Hydroscape-Group

28/07/2026

'We make evidence based decisions' and 'Theres already a licence in place to manage fish eating birds'

The government response to the recent petition basically translates as that, requiring firstly real evidence and secondly fisheries to at least exercise the controls they already have before asking for more.
Now, let's stop wasting time just signing petitions and actually build the evidence case that can't be ignored. You don't change the law with feelings, you change it with facts.

Government responded to this petition:
The government recently consulted on amending Schedule 2.1 and invited views from stakeholders. Responses are now being considered. Final decisions will be taken by Ministers and published shortly.

The government consulted on proposed changes to Part 1, Schedule 2 (2.1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 earlier this year. Although all wild birds are protected under the Act, Schedule 2.1 provides limited exemptions that allow those species listed on it to be shot outside their close season, mainly for recreational shooting and harvesting.

Schedule 2.1 currently lists 19 species of wild birds in England and Wales and 23 species in Scotland, mainly ducks, geese and wading birds. The consultation closed in May.

Defra and Natural England previously carried out a review of Schedule 2.1 in England to ensure that shooting certain species of wild birds is sustainable and does not undermine their recovery. Similar reviews were carried out by NatureScot on behalf of the Scottish Government and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) on behalf of the Welsh Government.

Following the conclusions of the reviews, Ministers largely agreed with various evidence-based recommendations set out in them, for example to extend the close season for woodcock, and remove pochard from Schedule 2.1.

The views of the public were sought on these proposed changes. Consultees were also asked for suggestions as to whether further changes should be made, either adding other species to Schedule 2.1, removing species from the schedule, or amending the dates of close seasons. The government did receive proposals to add cormorants, goosanders and red-breasted mergansers to Schedule 2.1 so they can be more easily controlled for the purpose of protecting inland fisheries and migratory fish populations. These proposals, and any evidence provided to support them, are now being analysed and considered together with the many other different suggestions from the public that the consultation elicited.

It is noted that a number of signatories to the petition reside in Scottish Parliamentary constituencies. It should be made clear that wildlife management is a devolved matter. While Defra worked collaboratively on the consultation document with the Scottish Government and Welsh Government, the UK government’s final decisions on which changes, if any, to make to Schedule 2.1 will relate only to England. The Secretary of State cannot compel Ministers in the Scottish Government or Welsh Government to make changes to Schedule 2.1 as it applies in Scotland or Wales. It will be for the governments of those nations to undertake their own analysis of the consultation responses and make decisions on legislative changes in Scotland and Wales to their own timelines.

Aside from the consultation on Schedule 2.1, the petition comments on the population decline of fish species such as the Atlantic salmon. The government recognises the impact that fish-eating birds can have on fish stocks, though many factors are responsible for suppressing fish stock recovery. This includes, but is not limited to, climate change, water quality, pollution, flooding and habitat degradation. Defra is working at the national and international level where a range of issues are concerned to protect Atlantic salmon populations. Cleaning up the water environment, for example, is a key priority for the department.

Furthermore, and as the petition alludes, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 already provides licensing functions to permit the control of piscivorous birds, most often cormorants, to protect fisheries where it can be shown that non-lethal measures are failing to manage predation.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

23/07/2026

If Carlsberg did petitions...

It still wouldn't work.

Stop signing. Start reporting

You signed it, shared it, and the birds came back the same as ever. One click never saved a water. Why cormorant petitions fail, and the work that does the job.

22/07/2026

By the time the cormorants arrive on your fishery, it's too late to protect this season. The decision was made in July

The A06 licence that lets you control cormorants runs from 1 September to 15 April. Most fishery managers know that part. Fewer know Natural England won't even look at an application until you've logged a month of non-lethal deterrence first

Start the deterrent log in July, file in August, and the licence can be live for the first of the season. Wait until the pressure's on and you file in September, and the decision won't land until the back half of October

That's the difference between about 32 weeks of protected water and 26. Six weeks, lost to nothing more than a filing date, while the birds are already on the fish

We've written it up stage by stage, with the dates:
https://www.hydroscape-group.co.uk/your-season-is-decided-in-july.html

And if the paperwork is what stops it getting done, we'll complete the A06 application for you, free: [email protected]

The A06 cormorant licence calendar, stage by stage. Six weeks of season are decided by the date you press submit.

18/07/2026

Plenty of posts recently about cormorant predation recently that highlight the conflicting views of all stakeholders involved in the conversation

It's always very clear that some people take a position on cormorant (and wider predation) management with very little insight into the facts and figures so here's a throwback to our article on the subject

If you're passionate about the environment then take a few minutes to read and really question; are you on the right side?

https://www.hydroscape-group.co.uk/right-side

17/07/2026

The heat breaks this weekend. That's the dangerous part.

The Environment Agency's own position: low pressure in a thunderstorm cuts the water's capacity to hold oxygen, and it can be the final trigger for fish already stressed. Weeks of dry weather also leave nutrient sat on the ground for the first proper rain to wash in.

Belper River Gardens, June 2022. Around 100 dead roach. The EA put it down to a hot Friday, then a temperature drop and heavy rain on the Saturday. Not the heatwave. The end of it.

This year's run three heatwaves, the hottest June day on record at 37.3°C, and record overnight minimums. Weeks of nights where the water never shed its heat and the dawn oxygen never climbed back.

Watch the water this weekend, not the thermometer. Fish at the surface at first light. Fish that won't feed. Colour change, foam, anything dead.

EA hotline is 0800 80 70 60. Tell your club too.

Then record it. Sixty seconds, GPS and timestamp, what you're looking at. No login, free. There'll be no public record of what this summer did to UK fisheries unless the people stood on the bank build one.

https://www.hydroscape-group.co.uk/water_quality.html

10/07/2026

Petitions don't drive change, evidence does

Instead of clicking once in protest, take 30 seconds every time you're out to be part of a meaningful solution

Evidence-based biodiversity and water quality monitoring. Record sightings, identify species, and build the data that protects the environment.

03/07/2026

Summer fish kills aren't a temperature problem. They're an oxygen problem with a temperature trigger

The Environment Agency responded to 88 serious hot-weather incidents in the South East alone in one summer. A single fisheries team in Cumbria and Lancashire saved over 20,000 fish in one season, half of them in stillwaters

Most of those incidents weren't caused by heat directly. They were caused by what heat does to oxygen

The reading that decides whether your fishery makes it through a difficult night is taken at dawn, not lunchtime. By the time the afternoon temperature looks worrying, the damage is already a few hours old

New piece for fishery managers, club committees, and anglers. The mechanism, the thresholds, the measurement timing, the practical measures, and what to do if you're standing at the bank wondering whether to fish

Read it here: https://www.hydroscape-group.co.uk/summers-real-killer.html

Why the dawn dissolved oxygen reading matters more than the afternoon temperature.

29/06/2026

The rivers are open and you're back on the bank for the season

Nobody sees a river like the angler sat on it all day. You watch the fish, the birds working the water, the things that come and go on the far bank while you wait. Most of it never gets recorded anywhere

We're building the largest freshwater biodiversity map anywhere, and anglers are the ones who can fill it in. The fish you catch, every bird you see, whatever's moving on the bank, it all counts

While you're sat there waiting for a bite, give it ten seconds. Open The Hydroscape App, tap what you've seen, and it logs where you are for you. That's it

The more of us doing it, the truer the picture gets. Records from the people who are out there, season after season

hydroscape-group.co.uk

The Hydroscape team