Unlicensed to kill

APWINGS, curlew and golden plover took a hammering in 2020 that in normal times would have been averted. Gamekeepers watched throughout the spring as herring and lesser black-backed gulls destroyed the eggs and chicks of these and other threatened birds. They could take no action because Natural England (NE) refused nearly all applications for gull control licences, other than for public safety and seaside towns. On 56 grouse moors, keepers recorded 1,355 such incidents. Scale that up for the attacks they didn’t see,