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 September and March 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. Carrying out more than one count provides us with better data

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