By Stuart Otway, Principal Officer in Natural England’s Complex Cases Team and Delphine Pouget, Principal Officer in Natural England’s Species Recovery & Reintroductions Team In February 2025 Defra published its landmark policy on the wild release and management of beavers …
By James Seymour, Natural England Area Manager for Kent and Sussex At Natural England, we help facilitate housing developments by enabling developers to deliver vital environmental benefits through our strategic licensing tools. These include District Level Licensing for great crested …
By Gemma Ole's, Deputy Director, Natural England Wildlife Licensing Service At Natural England we help balance economic growth with nature protection. Wildlife licensing is a vital tool to enable this. Our licences are broad ranging and allow development and other …
The experimental trial of hen harrier ‘brood management’ has ended, concluding that this activity has contributed to increased numbers of nesting hen harriers on some grouse moors. However, illegal killing of hen harriers has continued, and a range of approaches …
Natural England has today published the outcome of its review into the licensing of ‘wild take’, a practice that involves taking young birds of prey from the wild for use in falconry and aviculture. Defra ministers have endorsed Natural England’s …
By Stuart Otway, Principal Officer in Natural England’s Complex Cases Unit and Delphine Pouget, Principal Officer in Natural England’s Species Recovery & Reintroductions Team After centuries of absence, beavers are beginning to reclaim their rightful place in the English landscape. …
By Samantha Johnson-Roberts, Natural England Wildlife Inspector Background There aren't many jobs that combine tackling crime with protecting species like dormice and otters, but here at Natural England there are 46 of us and I'm lucky enough to be one …
Current government policy is to enable culling or vaccination of badgers to control bovine Tuberculosis (bTB). The Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs has today (30 August) announced a refresh of the strategy for control of bovine …
There has been some misinformation on social media recently regarding the tagging of hedgehogs to enable identification of individuals. This blog post from Natural England aims to set the record straight and provide clarity on this important issue. Background Marking …
By Ruth Andreyeva, Director of Land, Water and Seas strategy Biodiversity net gain (BNG) became mandatory in England earlier in 2024, after many years of collaboration across industry and the public sector. We celebrate this milestone wholeheartedly, but we’re not …
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We’re the government’s adviser for the natural environment, helping to protect England’s nature and landscapes for people to enjoy.
