{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-and-countryside-act-1981/section-1",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-and-countryside-act-1981/section-1.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1981/69",
  "legislation_title": "Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-and-countryside-act-1981",
  "path": "section/1",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "1",
  "heading": "Protection of wild birds, their nests and eggs.",
  "text": "(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person intentionally—\n(a) kills, injures or takes any wild bird;\n(aa) takes, damages or destroys the nest of a wild bird included in Schedule ZA1;\n(b) takes, damages or destroys the nest of any wild bird while that nest is in use or being built; or\n(c) takes or destroys an egg of any wild bird,\nhe shall be guilty of an offence.\n(2) Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person has in his possession or control—\n(a) any live or dead wild bird or any part of, or anything derived from, such a bird; or\n(b) an egg of a wild bird or any part of such an egg,\nhe shall be guilty of an offence.\n(3) A person shall not be guilty of an offence under subsection (2) if he shows that—\n(a) the bird or egg had not been killed or taken, or had been lawfully killed or taken ...; or\n(b) the bird, egg or other thing in his possession or control had been lawfully sold (whether to him or any other person) ...;\n...\n(3ZA) A person shall not be guilty of an offence under subsection (2)(b) if the person shows that the egg, or the part of the egg, was in any person’s possession or control before 28th September 1982.\n(3A) In subsection (3) “lawfully” means without any contravention of—\n(a) this Part and orders made under it,\n(b) the Protection of Birds Acts 1954 to 1967 and orders made under those Acts,\n(c) any other legislation which implements the Wild Birds Directive and extends to any part of the United Kingdom, to any area designated in accordance with section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964 , or to any area to which British fishery limits extend in accordance with section 1 of the Fishery Limits Act 1976 , and\n(d) the provisions of the law of any member State (other than the United Kingdom) implementing the Wild Birds Directive.\n(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(5) Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person intentionally or recklessly—\n(a) disturbs any wild bird included in Schedule 1 while it is building a nest or is in, on or near a nest containing eggs or young; or\n(b) disturbs dependent young of such a bird,\nhe shall be guilty of an offence ....\n(6) For the purposes of this section the definition of “wild bird” in section 27(1) is to be read as not including any bird which is shown to have been bred in captivity unless it has been lawfully released into the wild as part of a re-population or re-introduction programme.\n(6A) “Re-population” and “re-introduction” have the same meaning as in the Wild Birds Directive.\n(7) Any reference in this Part to any bird included in Schedule 1 is a reference to any bird included in Part I and, during the close season for the bird in question, any bird included in Part II of that Schedule.",
  "extent": "E+W",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "S. 1(1)(aa) inserted (E.W.) (31.5.2006) by Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (c.16), ss. 47(2),107; S.I. 2006/1382, art. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Word in s. 1(3)(a) inserted (E.) (14.7.2004) by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1487), reg. 3(a)(i); and (W.) (2.8.2004) by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1733), reg. 3(1), Sch. para. 1(a)(i)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in s. 1(3)(a) omitted (E.) (14.7.2004) by virtue of The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1487), reg. 3(a)(ii); and (W.) (2.8.2004) by virtue of The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1733), reg. 3(1), Sch. para. 1(a)(ii)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Word in s. 1(3)(b) inserted (E.) (14.7.2004) by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1487), reg. 3(b)(i); and (W.) (2.8.2004) by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1733), reg. 3(1), Sch. para. 1(b)(i)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words in s. 1(3)(b) omitted (E.) (14.7.2004) by virtue of The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1487), reg. 3(b)(ii); and (W.) (2.8.2004) by virtue of The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1733), reg. 3(1), Sch. para. 1(b)(ii)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Words in s. 1(3) omitted (E.) (14.7.2004) by virtue of The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1487), reg. 3(c); and (W.) (2.8.2004) by virtue of The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1733), reg. 3(1), Sch. para. 1(c)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "S. 1(3ZA) inserted (E.W.) (6.4.2016) by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/127), regs. 1(2), 2(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "S. 1(3A) inserted (E.) (14.7.2004) by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1487), reg. 3(d); and (W.) (2.8.2004) by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1733), reg. 3(1), Sch. para. 1(d)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "Words in s. 1(3A)(c) substituted (E.W.) (21.8.2007) by The Conservation (Natural Habitats, & c.) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1843), reg. 7(2)(a)(i)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F10",
      "text": "Words in s. 1(3A)(d) substituted (E.W.) (21.8.2007) by The Conservation (Natural Habitats, & c.) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1843), reg. 7(2)(a)(ii)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F11",
      "text": "S. 1(4) repealed (E.W.) (30.1.2001) by Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), ss. 102, 103(2), Sch. 16 Pt. IV (with Sch. 12 para. 10(6)); and (S.) (26.3.2003) by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 (asp 7), ss. 86, 89(2)(d), Sch. 5"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F12",
      "text": "Words in s. 1(5) inserted (E.W.) (30.1.2001) by Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), ss. 81(1), 103(2), Sch. 12 para. 1; and (S.) (1.10.2004) by Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 6), ss. 50, 59, Sch. 6 para. 2(5); S.S.I. 2004/407, art. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F13",
      "text": "Words in s. 1(5) repealed (E.W.) (30.1.2001) by Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), ss. 102, 103(2), Sch. 16 Pt. IV (with Sch. 12 para. 10(6)); and (S.) (26.3.2003) by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 (asp 7), ss. 86, 89(2)(d), Sch. 5"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F14",
      "text": "S. 1(6)(6A) substituted for s. 1(6) (E.W.) (1.10.2006) by Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (c.16), ss. 48(1), 107; S.I. 2006/2541, art. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F15",
      "text": "Words in s. 1(6A) substituted (E.W.) (21.8.2007) by The Conservation (Natural Habitats, & c.) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/1843), reg. 7(2)(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "1954 c. 30; 1964 c. 59; 1967 c. 46."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M2",
      "text": "1964 c. 29."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M3",
      "text": "1976 c. 86."
    },
    {
      "type": "E",
      "label": "E1",
      "text": "This version of this provision extends to England and Wales only; a separate version has been created for Scotland only"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69/section/1",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-31T10:30:49.503545+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."
}