Natural England

No - Natural England covers England. Countryside and rural issues for Wales are covered by the Countryside Council for Wales, whilst Scotland is covered by Scottish Natural Heritage, and The Environment & Heritage Service (EHS) covers rural issues for Northern Ireland. The JNCC (Joint Nature Conservation Committee) is the statutory adviser to Government on UK and international nature conservation and works to deliver the UK and international responsibilities of these agencies.

If you do not know the direct number you require, please contact the Enquiry Team on 0845 600 3078 (local rate).

Information on the Countryside Code can be found on the Countryside Access website.

In bringing together the functions carried out by these organisations, Natural England will be able to provide an integrated service, making it easier for you to get advice on all matters concerning access and the use of England's natural environment.

In brief, all birds, their nests and eggs are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It would be an offence, with certain exceptions, to:
- intentionally kill, injure or take any wild bird
- intentionally take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird whilst it is in use or being built
- intentionally take or destroy the egg of any wild bird
- intentionally or recklessly disturb any wild bird listed on Schedule 1 while it is nest building, or at a nest containing eggs or young, or disturb the dependent young of such a bird.

If you believe a crime is taking place then you should contact the police and speak to their wildlife crime officer. The more information you have about the incident the better.

Contact details for all wildlife crime officers is available on the Defra website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/paw/pdf/pwco-contacts.pdf

Alternatively you can report it online on the RSPB website at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/policy/wildbirdslaw/report.asp

One of the exceptions would be under a General Licence. General Licences have specific criteria and are subject to conditions of use. Details of the criteria and conditions can be found on the Defra website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/gen-licence.htm

Information on General Licences can also be obtained from Natural England's Wildlife Management and Licensing Service: tel: 0845 6014523 (local rate) or email: wildlife@naturalengland.org.uk

Information on the other exceptions can be found on the RSPB website at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/policy/wildbirdslaw/birdsandlaw/wca/exceptions.asp

Natural England has recently pledged its support for a wildlife gardening manifesto. The UK’s leading wildlife and horticultural organisations are joining Natural England in signing this manifesto to save the nation’s gardens, particularly those in towns and cities.

If you would like to do more to encourage wildlife into your garden here are a few ‘top tips’ that can start you on your way.

Top tips for wildlife:

1) Create a pond - or just let an upturned bin-lid or a sunken washing bowl fill with water. Make sure ponds have one sloping side to allow creatures an easy way out and add lots of plants.
2) Brighten your garden with flowers that provide pollen and nectar for bees, butterflies and other insects all year round. Many garden plants are as good for wildlife as wild flowers.
3) Leave a pile of dead wood in a shady spot. Any wood will do, though large logs are best and can make a home for anything from beetles to other useful mini-beasts.
4) Build a compost heap – it will save you money! It will also shelter creatures like slow worms that eat slugs.
5) Provide food and water for birds all year round.
6) Relax! Don’t feel you have to be too tidy. Leave some areas undisturbed. Allow a patch of grass to grow longer. This will encourage wild flowers; provide shelter for small mammals and food for some butterfly caterpillars.
7) Garden in a sustainable way to help protect wildlife and the environment worldwide. Use fewer chemicals and no peat; choose wood from sustainable sources; recycle all you can and save water.

You will find many more ideas and suggestions on the Nature in the Garden section on our website. From here you can download our full range of wildlife gardening leaflets, discover what to do and see each month and access our Gardening with wildlife in mind online site. There is even a ‘fun for kids’ section.

The best advice is to remain calm and to do nothing. It is most likely to be a grass snake or a slow worm (a legless lizard) as they often visit gardens. They are totally harmless. If possible try to get a good look at it, taking note of its markings and colouration. This will assist you in the identification of it. Froglife has an excellent page on their website that can help you with this: http://www.froglife.org/speciesIDsReptiles.htm

Snakes are shy, secretive creatures and will usually flee from humans and pets. Do not attempt to handle, capture or harm it. All English reptiles have declined in numbers over the last few decades and are legally protected against killing, injury and sale. The smooth snake and sand lizard also have additional protection.

Our Reptiles in your garden leaflet is full of useful information on this misunderstood creature. It answers the most common queries and will assist with understanding rather than fearing our native reptiles. For the severely phobic there is also a section on what can be done to ‘snake proof’ your garden. Paper copies of this leaflet are available from the Enquiry Service. We are also happy to offer additional advice and reassurance if you are still concerned and would like to talk to somebody: Tel: 0845 600 3078 or email: enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk

The Stewardship schemes’ are still administered by the regional offices. The following link gives details of all the Natural England Stewardship Customer Service Units: http://www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/pdfs/es/NE_addresses.pdf

If you are not sure who to contact please call the Natural England Enquiry Team and they will be able to give you the appropriate contact for your area. Telephone 0845 600 3078 or email enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk giving details of which scheme and county you are in.

If you click on the following link you can view information on all our National Trails, request any of the National Trails leaflets and also leave feedback or comments: http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk.

You can find details of over 400 local health walk schemes on the Walking the way to Health Initiative website. This site also has lots of information about the Initiative and the benefits of ‘green exercise’.

Open Access (also know as the ‘right to roam’) land is mapped access land that you can walk across without having to keep to the footpaths. We have an on-line map facility where you can locate and view maps of open access land.

You can find answers to commonly asked questions on the Cross Compliance website at: www.crosscompliance.org.uk. You can also email technical queries to the cross compliance technical helpline, locate cross compliance advisory events in your area and access key publications to help you meet cross compliance requirements.

You will need to employ a qualified ecologist to do this. Natural England is unable to recommend anyone but below are links to two websites where you can find suitable people locally.
www.endsdirectory.com and www.ieem.org.uk

Natural England is now responsible for administering the Regulations. They replace the previous rules and protect uncultivated and semi-natural land from damage caused by intensification of farming activities. They introduce EU-based rules which guard against environmental damage caused by large-scale restructuring of rural land (e.g. major addition or removal of field boundaries).

Natural England have produced a Frequently Asked Questions document, which provides additional guidance on the EIA (Agriculture) Regulations and is available from the link below:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/environment/land-use/eia/pdf/eia-faq.pdf (pdf, 50kb)

If your question is not answered by this document then please contact our Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Unit. Their contact details are as follows:

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Unit
Natural England
Government Buildings
Burghill Road
Westbury on Trym
Bristol
BS10 6NJ

Tel: 0800 028 2140
Fax: 0845 601 3438
Email: eia.england@naturalengland.org.uk
Web: www.defra.gov.uk/eia

It is the highway authorities (may be county council or unitary authority) who are responsible for maintaining and protecting public rights of way. Any questions regarding the location or status of rights of way, where you can walk or ride, about maintenance or obstructions or whether a right exists or not should be addressed to a rights of way officer at your highway authority.

If you do not know how to contact your highway authority you can find an index of councils on the DirectGov website.

You can find lots of useful information on public rights of way on our website

We have also produced a range of publications on rights of way which are available to download freely from our online publications catalogue.

The Institute of Public Rights of Way Management (IPROW) is the professional body which represents individuals involved in the management of public rights of way. They have an excellent frequently asked questions section on their website with answers to commonly asked questions on this subject.

On our website we have a page that provides an outline of the Thames Basin Heaths Area Based Delivery Project, and particularly the strand known as the Thames Basin Heaths Delivery Plan. This page also provides links to useful information for developers and other interested parties regarding the Delivery Plan approach.

We also have a page that gives an outline of current issues affecting the Dorset Heathland particularly in relation to housing development, providing information and links to further web sites for developers and other interested parties regarding the Dorset Heathlands Interim Planning Framework.

The information on both the Thames Basin Heaths and the Dorset Heaths includes links to supporting documents available to download, reports, maps, and other related websites.

Yes we do and they are all available electronically on our website. The founding bodies that were brought together to form Natural England had all produced Education Packs and these have now been put on our Education Pack web page.

In addition to these we also have a useful Nature for Schools section which has lesson plans, activities and information meeting the requirements of the National Curriculum.