Open season for pigeons? 

From general licence to legal clarity

For the first time since the early 1990s, shooting woodpigeon for the table or for sport could become explicitly lawful. A Government consultation published on 23 March proposes to add woodpigeon to the quarry list with an open season from 1 September to 31 January, giving pigeon shooters a legal right to shoot for recreation or food without needing to justify it as crop protection.

Currently, all woodpigeon shooting is carried out under general licences – GL42 in England, GL02 in Scotland and GL001 in Wales – which tie shooting to preventing serious damage to crops. In practice, pigeon shooting has long been as much about sport and the table as it has been about protecting oilseed rape, and the Government’s own consultation acknowledges that openly. The proposal would draw a clear line in law between recreational shooting and pest control for the first time in more than 30 years, with general licences for crop protection continuing year-round and unchanged.

The NFU has estimated that without control, damage to oilseed rape crops in East Anglia alone would exceed £45 million a year, underlining why that general licence provision matters to farmers and land managers regardless of what happens to the recreational framework. Pigeon shooters who decoy over crops or flight birds at roost for pest control purposes would carry on exactly as before. Those shooting purely for sport or food would, within the open season, finally have a clear legal basis for doing so.

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Bringing Britain into line with Europe

Britain has been out of step with Europe on this for decades. Of 29 countries examined in the Government’s review, 28 already regulate woodpigeon shooting through a defined hunting season. France, Spain, Portugal and others have long treated woodpigeon as quarry in its own right. The consultation proposes to bring Britain into line.

The same consultation also invites views on adding other species to the quarry list, an opportunity the shooting community is being urged to take seriously. BASC has identified a long list of candidates including carrion crow, jackdaw, jay, magpie and a range of other species.

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Mixed picture beyond woodpigeon

Beyond the woodpigeon proposal, the consultation is a more mixed picture, and the sector’s response is correspondingly nuanced. The proposal to push the woodcock season back to 1 December in England and Wales, and to 15 November in Scotland, is unlikely to cause many sleepless nights. Most shooters are well aware woodcock is under pressure, and GWCT has been promoting voluntary restraint before December for years. The sector’s objection is not that the change is wrong but that legislation is a blunt instrument when self-regulation was already delivering the same outcome.

Other proposals include removing pochard, European white-fronted goose and goldeneye from the quarry list in England and Wales. Pintail faces removal in England, with its close season extended in Scotland and Wales. In Wales the changes go further still, with golden plover, common snipe and coot also proposed for removal. In England and Scotland, snipe’s close season would be extended to 30 September.

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Evidence versus legislation

BASC’s position throughout is not simply that these changes are unwelcome but that they are unnecessary. Research cited within the consultation itself concluded that current “harvests” of several species fall within sustainable limits, with population declines driven primarily by climate change, habitat loss and shifts in migratory range rather than shooting pressure. The argument is that self-regulation, backed by evidence, delivers better conservation outcomes than legislation and that blunt statutory restrictions risk being counterproductive.

Deputy director of conservation Dr Marnie Lovejoy said the organisation would respond robustly. “The sector is already delivering sustainable shooting and has taken action based on evidence and clear, best-practice recommendations. The removal of species from the quarry list and the shortening of shooting seasons would do nothing for conservation. We oppose blunt legislative bans, particularly where UK harvest is not driving declines.”

GWCT’s Dr Andrew Hoodless urged the Government to take caution: “Any changes in regulation should be based on scientific evidence or risk being counterproductive and causing further declines,” he said. Countryside Alliance chief executive Tim Bonner echoed that view. “It is perfectly legitimate to review the status of species and when and whether they can be hunted. We do, however, have concerns that not all the proposals are logical and evidence-based.”

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Have your say

Shooters are encouraged to respond to the consultation, which closes at midnight on 17 May 2026. BASC and the Countryside Alliance have published guidance on their websites.