Barn owls: survey licence for development projects (CL29)

This licence allows you to disturb barn owls to survey them by observation to assess what effect a development project could have on them. You can survey for barn owl:

• presence or absence
• distribution

There’s no limit to the number of barn owls that you may disturb, as long as you meet all the terms and conditions in licence CL29.

You must minimise disturbance to barn owls and other wild birds or anything that might endanger their breeding success.

You must apply for a permit from the British Trust for Ornithology to do:

• scientific research
• conservation work
• ringing or marking
• nest recording

Register with Natural England

BeforeYou must register with Natural England before you can use this licence,licence.

youRegister mustfor registera withclass licence to survey barn owls

Natural England usingwill theconfirm your registration formin forwriting, ausually classwithin licence.30 working days. You must not carry out any licensed activities until you receive written confirmation of your registration.

What you need to pay

You must pay for a CL29 licence. There are no exemptions.

It costs £104 to register for a new CL29 licence.

It costs £35 a year to continue your registration.

How to pay

You can pay using a bank card. Follow the GOV.UK Pay link on the registration form or survey licence return form.

Read the terms and conditions for paying for a wildlife licence.

Report actionactions taken under this licence

You must completeuse the barn owl survey licence return form byto report any actions taken under this licence. You must report your actions between 1 and 31 January each year, even if you’ve taken no action or did not find the target species.

You must list all surveys carried out under this licence. For each survey, you must record:

• survey location (site name, county, site description, 810 digitfigure OSOrdnance Survey grid reference)
• number of barn owls present (and lifecycle stage, if known)
• breeding status (if known)

You’ll also need to give:

• your licence details
• the names of accredited agents who worked under your licence
• whether you followed best practice when using the licence
• details of any welfare concerns

Submit a barn owl survey licence return

You must also send your results to the Local Record Centre. You can do this by recording your results on the iRecord website or contacting your Local Record Centre.

ContinueUsing your registrationlicence for another year

YouBy reporting your actions, you can continue to use the surveylicence returnfor formthe tofollowing continuereporting yourperiod. registration.You Itwill costsneed to pay £35 to do this.

Get help

If you need help with registering for a yearclass tolicence continueor completing your registration.survey licence return form, contact wildlife.scicons@naturalengland.org.uk.