{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/protection-of-birds-act-1954/section-3",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/protection-of-birds-act-1954/section-3.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/Eliz2/2-3/30",
  "legislation_title": "Protection of Birds Act 1954",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/protection-of-birds-act-1954",
  "path": "section/3",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "3",
  "heading": "Power to establish bird sanctuaries",
  "text": "(1) With a view to the creation of bird sanctuaries, the Secretary of State may by order make provision with respect to any area specified in the order providing for all or any of the following matters, that is to say—\n(a) that any person who, within that area, at any time wilfully kills, injures or takes, or attempts to kill, injure or take, any wild bird shall be guilty of an offence against this Act;\n(b) that any person who, within that area, wilfully takes or destroys an egg of any wild bird shall be guilty of an offence against this Act;\n(c) that any person who, save as may be provided in the order, enters into that area during any period specified in the order shall be guilty of an offence against this Act;\n(d) that where any offence against this Act, or any such offence against this Act as may be specified in the order, is committed within that area, the offender shall be liable to a special penalty:\nProvided that an authorised person shall not by virtue of any such order be guilty of an offence—\n(i) by reason of the killing or taking of, or an attempt to kill or take, a wild bird included in the Second Schedule to this Act, or by reason of the injuring of such a bird in the course of an attempt to kill it; or\n(ii) by reason of the taking or destruction of an egg of such a bird; or\n(iii) by reason of the taking of an egg of a wild duck, wild goose or swan if it is shown that the egg was taken for the purpose of causing it to be hatched ; or\n(iv) by reason of the taking or destruction of an egg of a lapwing before the fifteenth day of April in any year;\nand the making of an order under this section with respect to any area shall not affect the exercise by any person of any right vested in him, whether as owner, lessee or occupier of any land in that area or by virtue of a licence or agreement.\n(2) Before making any order under this section the Secretary of State shall consult with any local authority within whose area the area with respect to which the order is to be made or any part thereof is situated and shall give particulars of the intended order either by notice in writing to every owner and every occupier of any land included in the area with respect to which the order is to be made or, where the giving of such notice is in his opinion impracticable, by advertisement in a newspaper circulating in the district in which that area is situated, and he shall not make the order unless either—\n(a) all the owners and occupiers aforesaid have consented thereto; or\n(b) at the expiration of a period of three months from the date of the giving of the notice or the publication of the advertisement, none of those owners or occupiers has objected thereto.\n(3) So much of any order made by the Secretary of State under the Wild Birds Protection Acts, 1880 to 1939, and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act as prohibits the taking or killing in any particular area of all wild birds or the taking or destruction in any particular area of the eggs of all wild birds shall be deemed to be an order duly made under this section, and subject to the provisions of this Act any person who contravenes that prohibition shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/2-3/30/section/3",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T11:16:10.609790+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}