Here we
shall print general news on the
hobby
UNUSED CLOSED RINGS
Please do not return unused rings to the office.
Rings not required for future use should be decommissioned or destroyed by crushing or incineration.
This consultation concerns commonly kept smaller birds listed on Part 1 Schedule 3 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and does not apply to game birds.
Schedule 3 birds can be sold if they meet certain requirements e.g. are ringed. Some birds not listed on Schedule 3 can be sold by people relying on a general licence, issued by the relevant national licensing authority, if certain conditions are met.
For other birds sale is only allowed by an individual licence
issued by the relevant national licensing
authority.
This may happen if a bird has been bought in another EU Member State for onward sale in the UK and does not meet the requirements of the regulations for that species.
Concerns have been raised that the current regulation of trade in these captive-bred birds needs reform, as it may restrict trade in captive-bred birds imported into the UK from other European Member States.
This consultation provides three options which could resolve these concerns. It also asks for information on a number of other issues relating to trade in captive bred birds which will be used to inform future policy.
Natural England Press Release on
Consultation
Natural England have made a press release on the current Consultation / Review of the General Licences.
The Bird Council Committee is reviewing these potential changes & formulating its reply.
The released documents can be found below
Anyone who also wishes to comment should please contact our office by e mail please;
E mail:
info@britishbirdcouncil.com
PAYMENT BY BANK CARD NOW ACCEPTED
We now accept card payments
Either fill in the card payment
form from dowloads page and send with your
order
Or you can now phone orders
through & pay by card
RSPCA INDEPENDENT REVIEW
The RSPCA Trustees have, under pressure from various sources, commissioned an independent review of the charity's prosecution activities.
This reviewer is requesting submissions from any persons concerned with the charity's policy.
This is the British Bird Council submission on behalf of our members:
Dear Sirs
I am writing on behalf of members of The British
Bird Council (BBC). The council was formed in 1972 to represent
those individuals and affiliated societies whose members pursue the
legitimate hobby of keeping,
breeding and exhibiting captive bred British and
European native bird species.
As an organisation we do not condone any illegal activities associated with aviculture particularly with regard to the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. Our objectives have always been to educate in the pursuit of aviculture.
In the past we had regular contact with the RSPCA, however since the time when the RSPCA announced they were totally opposed to the captive keeping and breeding of British birds, and they become increasingly concerned with bringing private prosecutions against aviculturists, the relationship has been strained and almost non-existent.
The BBC along with the International
Ornithological Association (IOA) issue closed metal rings to
aviculturists which are fitted to the legs of recently hatched
birds to show they have been bred in captivity.
This is in accordance with the legislation
contained in the 1981 Act and agreed with DEFRA. Each ring is
individually marked and records are kept as to who the rings were
issued together with their address, this information is kept within
our office on computer hardware.
In circumstances where the Police are
investigating wildlife crime they contact the BBC to obtain
information related to specific ring numbers from birds they have
examined or seized. Upon a written request the BBC
have always fully cooperated and passed this
information over.
For some years now it is apparent that the Police
are acting on information supplied by the RSPCA who persuade the
Police to obtain warrants to enter premises of aviculturists who
they (RSPCA) suspect of committing wildlife crimes, the RSPCA
accompany the Police during these raids. Any information that the
Police obtain from the BBC regarding ring numbers, names and
addresses are immediately shared with the RSPCA who then make their
own further investigations, acting like police when they visit
properties, they even
at times issue cautions although these of course
have no legal standing but nonetheless intimidate those
aviculturists who are unaware that the RSPCA have no legal standing
whatsoever.
I cannot over emphasise this last point which is
that employees of the RSPCA do not have any special legal powers,
they are no different to the average man in the street i.e. merely
members of the public.
They dress in uniforms similar to Police and call
themselves Inspector or Chief Inspector but they are, all the same,
just an ordinary member of the public.
I cannot think of any other circumstance in which
a member of the public i.e. RSPCA employee, who would be given
confidential and privileged information and accompany the Police on
dawn raids thereby enabling them to
pursue private prosecutions and to further their
own political agenda, this is outrageous.
On these raids the number of personnel including
employees of the RSPCA is at times unbelievable and cannot be
justified for this level of wildlife crime. In financial terms the
expenditure on this charity is disproportionate and unjustified for
an organisation set up for the interests of animal protection and
goes beyond the remit of its founding principles and the interests
of its donors in pursuit of its top personnel’s own political
agenda,
which in the case of the BBC is to stop the
legitimate keeping of British birds in captivity for its own
ideology even though there is no cruelty involved.
Due to its financial position the RSPCA is able
to throw disproportionate resources into intimidating and
persecuting law abiding citizens who, because of a quirk in natural
justice, have the reverse burden of proof put upon them i.e. the
birdkeeper has to prove that the birds are legally in captivity and
not as it should be that the prosecution has to prove that the
birds are illegally in captivity and because of the financial
burdens placed on
defending such actions, some members of the BBC
and IOA simply plead guilty as they cannot afford to challenge the
resources of the RSPCA in court.
In précis the RSPCA are
pursuing, for their own political agenda, the persecution of law
abiding aviculturists, gaining confidential information from the
Police that would not be available to any other organisation or
member of the public, using their considerable financial backing to
pursue private prosecutions and abusing their status as a charity.
They have somehow gained influence in the corridors of powers,
probably because of the
limited resources of the Police in pursuing such
low priority crime which they are quite happy to see the RSPCA
pursuing as it saves their resources for other crime. They have
stepped over the threshold with regards to their charitable status
and if they wish to continue in this vain then they should set out
their agenda clearly to their donors, be stripped of their
charitable status and also be treated as any other member of the
public by the Police and other government bodies.
Regards
Chris Boyce
Chairman British Bird Council
Anyone wishing to make their own submission to this review can do so by following this link:
Problems ringing northern birds
General opinion, and advice given by B Partridge,
particularly in regard to Northern birds was that if members had
difficulty in ringing any bird they should use the next size up,
keep a full record of why and when etc but that if they wanted to
sell it they would need an exemption licence from Natural E who
would need the ring number etc. on application form.
WML-A20
Licence to sell unrung birds
It would appear that
Natural England have had a change of direction, although in the
past we were informed
that unrung Birds ( Birds not
rung with an official closed ring) could not be sold under licence
but could be passed on only as a gift.
Recently Natural England
Granted a Licence WLF 026837 for an unrung bird to be sold namely a
colour variant
Northern Bullfinch,
Pyrrhula Pyrrhula without documentary evidence of captive
breeding.
It would appear that
providing documentary evidence of captive breeding is supplied on
the application form
along with other necessary
detail, a licence can also be granted for a normal coloured unrung
bird.
REDPOLLS
A joint announcement by the B.B.C., I.O.A. and
N.C.A.
According to a statement
by Natural England on their website dated May 2011. Due to
taxonomic review by
British Ornithological Union
in 2001, the Lesser Redpoll formally termed (Carduelis flammea
caberet) has in effect by default been removed from Schedule
3. Part 1. where Redpoll is listed as Carduelis flammea,
which covered all Redpolls with the exception of species
Carduelis hornemanni “Arctic Redpoll”.
Discussions with D.E.F.R.A. and N.E. to resolve the issue have to date not reached a satisfactory conclusion.
With the show and sale
season fast approaching and after some discussion with the B.O.U.
in regards to
ancestry of captive bred
stocks of Redpoll, the B.B.C., I.O.A. and N.C.A. issue the
following advice to keepers, breeders, sellers, exhibitors and show
promoters.
Due to their mixed race ancestry captive bred Redpolls shall for the present be referred to as Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea).
The term Lesser to be
deleted from nomenclature. Small captive bred version to be
referred to as Common
Redpoll, large version as
Mealy Redpoll.
Should you believe you have any captive bred pure caberet (which is highly unlikely) or Arctic Redpoll (Carduelis hornemanni) that you wish to sell or show you will need to abide by regulations of
GL18 and GL14. Please see Natural England Website at: www.naturalengland.org.uk