Bird licence applications: count fish-eating birds on a coarse or trout fishery

You must give us a count of birds on the fishery when you apply for a licence to control fish-eating birds to prevent serious damage.

Recording the count

You must count birds between October and February and record the following details.

  • Date of count
  • Count start time
  • Species of bird (enter '0' if none observed)
  • Numbers of each species
  • What each species were doing (flying, feeding or roosting)

We will ask you to enter this information into your application form.

Coarse or trout fisheries under 10 hectares

  • Include details of a minimum of ten still water site visits, dated at least three days apart.
  • Make several visits to the same site on different days, at different times of day.

Coarse or trout fisheries over 10 hectares

  • Include details of at least one visit to the fishery.

Coarse or trout fisheries on river sections

  • Include details of at least one visit to the river. Carrying out more than one count provides us with better data.

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