UK wildlife law and conservation status

Most of the legal protection given to British wildlife sits in one piece of legislation: the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Its schedules set out which species are protected, and how far that protection goes, and the full text of the Act, including every schedule, is published on legislation.gov.uk.

What the schedules cover

The Act does not treat every species the same way. Schedule 1 lists birds given special protection, Schedule 5 lists animals other than birds, and Schedule 8 lists protected plants, each with its own set of offences attached, such as intentionally killing, injuring or taking a listed animal, or picking or uprooting a listed plant without permission. Some species are protected against disturbance as well, which is most important during breeding or hibernation.

Other legislation working alongside it

The Wildlife and Countryside Act is not the only statute involved. The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 gives separate protection to species and habitats of European importance, and the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 sets out offences specific to badgers and their setts, distinct from the general Schedule 5 provisions. A species can be covered by more than one of these at once, and the level of protection, and the offences that follow, depend on which piece of legislation applies to it.

Read alongside the law, the UK species pages set out what each species' status means in practice, and the species groups pages group species the way the schedules tend to.

A Red List category records how likely a species is to disappear from the wild, using a set of thresholds for extinction risk that are applied consistently across taxonomic groups. It is a scientific assessment, not a legal instrument, and the two do not always line up: a species can carry a high-risk category and no legal protection at all, and a fully protected species can carry a low-risk one.

• Extinct
• Critically Endangered
• Endangered
• Vulnerable
• Near Threatened
• Least Concern
• Data Deficient
• Not Evaluated

Species of Conservation Concern lists

Several groups, birds among them, have their own concern lists built around that group's own biology. These lists are reassessed on whatever cycle the group running the assessment sets.

Priority species and priority habitats

A priority species is one placed on a statutory list of species of principal importance for conserving biodiversity. Public authorities have a duty to have regard to that list when carrying out their functions, but the listing does not by itself create an offence: a landowner or developer whose work affects a priority species has not automatically broken the law unless that species is separately protected under wildlife legislation.

How status differs from protection

Red List category, conservation concern banding and priority status all describe how a species or habitat is faring. None of them, on their own, makes it an offence to kill, disturb or damage that species or its habitat.

Browse the species pages for status set against legal protection for a particular species, or the species groups for how concern lists are organised by taxon.

A wildlife licence is permission from a statutory body to do something that would otherwise be an offence under wildlife law, such as disturbing a protected species, moving it, or carrying out work near a nest, roost or resting place. Licences exist because some activities, from surveying bats in a roof space to clearing vegetation that shelters great crested newts, cannot always avoid the protected species altogether, so the law provides a route to do the work lawfully.

Who issues a licence

The licensing authority depends on where the work is happening. In England, Natural England issues wildlife licences. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own licensing bodies, and a licence granted in one nation does not cover work in another.

When a licence is needed

A licence is generally needed before starting work that could disturb, capture, kill or injure a protected species, or damage or destroy a place it uses for breeding or shelter, where that impact cannot be designed out. Typical triggers include building or demolition work near a bat roost, pond work affecting great crested newts, and habitat clearance where a protected species is known or suspected to be present. Licences are usually applied for in advance of the work, since they set out the conditions the work must follow.

How to apply

For work in England, gov.uk sets out the wildlife licences available and how to apply to Natural England for one: gov.uk's wildlife licences guidance. It covers the different licence types, what an application needs to show, and which species and activities each licence relates to.