We aren’t barbaric killers, we are the worlds best and least understood naturalists. And every Falcon that we touch lives within us for the rest of our lives. The knowledge of bird behaviour gained from observing populations in the wild benefits the development of ex situ husbandry programmes for captive individuals. Expertise from the zoo, eg design, construction and siting of nest boxes to encourage breeding in new locations (Beilby, 2022), has direct impact on wild populations by evidencing how to augment habitats to improve their quality and usefulness for threatened species at specific times. Final thoughts The behavioural biology of waterbirds. In: Rose, P. E. (ed), The Behavioural Biology of Zoo Animals, 1st edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 153-170 The applicants have declared that any birds taken, and their young, will remain within the breeding programme. In the unlikely event that a licence holder ever wishes to sell a bird, they would first need a CITES certificate for ‘commercial’ use – this would be a decision for APHA (who manage CITES in England) however we understand that such a certificate would not be issued. There are no restrictions on the movements of the birds under the licences, however a CITES certificate would need to be obtained to export any of the birds. We have limited the licence period to two years and have the power to revoke or suspend the licence if there was evidence that the licences have been assessed on false information.

Mallard: Anas platyrhynchos. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019 [Accessed: November 2022] We understand that some people may have questions and concerns over the taking of birds from the wild and so I wanted to outline more about our decision. A peregrine falcon. Credit: Pixabay Collaboration between a wide range of practitioners and stakeholders is key to effective bird conservation – the knowledge and skills of invested parties enhance the efficacy and relevance of conservation action, making such outputs more likely to succeed. FIGURE (1) The integration of in situ (wild-based) conservation action alongside ex situ (zoo-based) conservation action beneficial to a species’ attainment of population recovery and sustainability. Including all stakeholders in creating a species conservation action plan increases the buy-in to conservation initiatives and promotes a sense of commonality to what you are trying to achieve. A sliding scale of management (eg more in-zoo compared to the wild, or more wild intervention compared to in-zoo) can be implemented based on a species’ specific needs at a certain timeThis will provide UK native peregrine falcons to falconers and potentially limit the amount of peregrines taken from the wild in the future, and it will also have the added benefit of creating a captive population on known provenance which we have never had before and would give us options in the future. We will be closely monitoring the operation including through asking the applicants for evidence to ensure compliance, whilst staying within the government guidelines around Covid-19. British finches are often associated with mules, a term used by cage bird breeders to refer to hybrids of finch species bred in captivity, such as that of a goldfinch and canary. There are now strict ringing regulations on British finches in places such as the UK, but they are still kept by aviculturists who care for them in much the same way as canaries. The seed mixture in the UK known as British Finch & Mule is their basic diet.

Depending on where in the country you live, the redpoll may not a familiar bird to you. There are two main types of Redpoll kept in aviculture, the Lesser and the Mealy. The Lessers are the smaller of the two and cross-breeding should be avoided. The Avicultural Society is concerned with the keeping and breeding of all types of birds other than domesticated varieties. The society, based in the UK, has a world-wide membership which includes most top aviculturalists, as well as leading zoos, bird gardens, conservation organisations and research institutes around the world. Since seeing a real live Falcon at the age of ten, some 33 years ago, I have always found complete awe in the knowledge that it is possible for a human being to take a completely wild animal, the Peregrine Falcon, some would say the wildest of all the animals, and tame her using infinite patience, positive reinforcement only (punishing a bird of prey is counter productive, we never consider even speaking harshly to our falcon), love and time. To such a level that the Falcon will genuinely want to fly with and hunt with the human for no other reason than the symbiosis that they have together developed. The falconer would feed the falcon when she was unsuccessful, and share in her kills when the hunt bore fruit. Thus ensuring her survival for the first few critical years of her life. Then when she reaches sexual maturity the falconer would cast her to the wind for the final time safe in the knowledge that she was completely self sufficient and could go on to breed more of her kind that he may one day encounter himself. This chain of events has continued in broken for literally 2000 years. And every time I consider it, then it completely blows my mind.As a general rule, British captive bred birds are more reticent around humans than species such as canaries. This can be overcome with interaction from an early age, but this runs the risk of abandonment by parents. Therefore, in my opinion, British birds are best enjoyed as a visual and auditory spectacle as opposed to birds physically interacted with. The British Birds list of Western Palearctic birds sets out the names and taxonomic sequence used in all material published in and by British Birds. In terms of taxonomy and scientific nomenclature, the BB list follows the International Ornithological Union’s IOC World Bird List (v. 13.2). In most cases, English names are the same as the international English names used in the IOC World Bird List, but in some cases more familiar European names are retained (for example, divers and skuas rather than loons and jaegers). Separate columns in the BB list denote differences in common names from the IOC World Bird List and also from the vernacular names used by the British Ornithologists’ Union in the official British List. The main problem with greenfinches is an illness called ‘going light’. This is a sulphur deficiency which sees the bird almost waste away. However, there are some good products available now to treat this at a young age to prevent this happening as the birds get older.