Natural England have been running a consultation – that ends today – which proposes to grant licences for the destruction of nests and eggs for Pied Wagtails, Robins and Starlings.
They claim the reason for giving permission for nests and eggs to be destroyed is “for the purpose of preserving public health and safety”.
The consultation paper (embedded below for your convenience) states,
“There is no conservation concern regarding pied wagtails or robins; starlings are Red listed due to population declines, although they remain numerically abundant. We are confident that the very small number of nests potentially affected by licensing currently does not, and will not under a general licence arrangement, have a discernable impact on the populations of any of these species.”
OnTheWight understands that wildlife conservationists on the Isle of Wight were unaware of the consultation.
Blogger, Tom Pride, has a very interesting take on the proposal, linking the Chair of Natural England, Andrew Sells, with property development business, Linden Homes, who specialise in developing brownfield sites for residential housing.
He says that nesting birds are “one of the biggest problems facing property developers when they attempt to develop brownfield sites for residential housing”.
Have your say
You can add your views on the consultation – which ends today (19th May) by visiting the Natural England website.
Our thanks to Thomas Cowley for heads-up.
Image: Wahoowins under CC BY 2.0
