Protected Species and Species Conservation

We advise the Council and members of the public about statutory duties with respect to protected species, such as bats and great crested newts. We can advise on site management, regulatory controls, and species licensing requirements. Our aim is to promote conservation of priority species under the UK BAP (Biodiversity Action Plan) 1994.

Wildlife crime

In the United Kingdom, legislation such as the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994, the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, give protection to wildlife and important habitats and sites.

Wildlife crimes against protected species include killing or taking them from the wild (e.g. birds of prey, plants); collecting their eggs or skins for personal collections; trading in them; and taxidermy offences. Destruction of nests and breeding sites; bat roosts and other protected habitats are also offences. Some legislation protects particular species e.g. The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 and the Deer Act 1991. The Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 protects wild mammals by making it an offence to cause them unnecessary suffering by certain acts.

If you have any knowledge of, or have witnessed an offence please contact the Warwickshire wildlife crime officer immediately: Craig Fellowes, Warwickshire Police, PO Box 4, Leek Wooton, Warwick. CV35 7QB. Tel: 01926 415000 Fax: 01926 415230
email: craig.fellowes@warwickshire.pnn.police.uk

There are a number of statutory designated sites such as the five Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in the Borough (including Clowes Wood, and over fifteen Local Nature Reserves designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.  In addition there are a number of non-statutory sites in the borough or Local Wildlife Sites (LWS, formerly known as Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation or SINCs) and Regionally Important Geological Sites (RIGS).  Sites are selected on the basis of ‘Guidance for the Selection of Non-Statutory Sites of importance for Nature Conservation in Warwickshire’, produced by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust in May 1998 and adopted by the Council. LWS are selected on the basis of their being of ‘substantive’ nature conservation value.  Sites that have been highlighted as having the potential to become LWS but have not yet been surveyed are known as potential Local Wildlife Sites (pLWSs).

Contact Details

Mike Eastwood, Principal Landscape Architect Tel: 0121 704 6391
Email: meastwood@solihull.gov.uk