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Wales Proposed Removing European Golden Plover From the Legal Quarry List

European Golden Plover in breeding plumage
Conservation · Management

Wales proposed removing European golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria) from Schedule 2 Part 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in March 2026. The change would remove the species from the list of birds that may legally be shot outside a defined close season in Wales.

The proposal was based on a species assessment prepared for the joint UK, Scottish and Welsh consultation. European golden plover is Red-listed as a Bird of Conservation Concern in Wales. The assessment reported a 58% decline in the Welsh wintering population over the 25 years from 1997/98 to 2022/23 and a 23% decline over the most recent ten-year period. Historical upland surveys estimated 250–300 breeding pairs in Wales in the 1970s, while a repeat survey in 2008 found fewer than 40 pairs; the 2026 assessment considered fewer than 30 breeding pairs a likely current figure.

Natural Resources Wales advised removal from Schedule 2 as the preferred precautionary option. The open season begins on 1 September, when resident Welsh breeders and that year’s young may still make up a larger share of birds present than later in winter, after migrants have arrived. The assessment also noted that the number of golden plovers actually shot in Wales is unknown because there is no national bag-return system. It cited a UK-wide modelling study that concluded the current national take was sustainable, but stressed that UK harvest estimates are imprecise and do not show how many birds are shot in Wales.

The recommendation was specific to Wales. Natural England and NatureScot did not recommend changing the species’ Schedule 2 status in England or Scotland. The consultation therefore proposed ending legal quarry status for European golden plover in Wales while leaving the position unchanged elsewhere in Great Britain.

Sources and image credit

  1. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. (2026, March 23). Stronger protections to help protect threatened wild birds.Primary government announcement launching the joint consultation and confirming the Welsh proposal to remove European golden plover from Schedule 2 Part 1 in Wales.
  2. Natural Resources Wales. (2026). Schedule 2 Consultation: Wales species assessment — Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria).Primary species assessment supporting the consultation. It reports the Welsh breeding and wintering declines, the lack of reliable hunting-bag data, and recommends removal from Schedule 2 as NRW’s preferred precautionary approach.

Image: Charles J. Sharp — female European golden plover in breeding plumage, photographed at Keflavík, Iceland, 4 August 2025; Wikimedia Commons Quality Image; representative species image, not a bird from the Welsh assessment · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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