Barn owls: survey licence for development projects (CL29)
Register for a licence to survey barn owls to assess the effect of a development project on them.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
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
Before you can use this licence, you must register with Natural England using the registration form for a class licence.
What you need to pay
You must pay for a CL29 licence. There are no exemptions.
It costs £60£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 return form.
Read the terms and conditions for paying for a wildlife licence.
Report action taken
You must complete the survey return form by 31 January each year, even if you’ve taken no action or did not find the target species.
You should only complete and submit a survey return form between 1 and 31 January. If you need to submit it outside these dates (for exceptional reasons only) email wildlife.scicons@naturalengland.org.uk.
You must list all surveys carried out under this licence. For each survey, you must record:
- survey location (site name, county, site description, 8 digit OS grid reference)
- number of barn owls present (and lifecycle stage, if known)
- breeding status (if known)
You’ll also need to give:
- the names of accredited agents who worked under your licence
- whether you followed best practice when using the licence
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.
Continue your registration
You can use the survey return form to continue your registration. It costs £35 a year to continue your registration.
Updates to this page
Last updated
-
Added a link to the updated 'Apply for a class licence to survey protected species' form.
Update history
2025-04-01 00:01
Updated licence charge.
2025-03-03 10:00
Added a link to the updated ‘Apply for a class licence to survey protected species’ form.
2025-02-10 16:03
We are currently making improvements to our licensing forms.The register for a class licence form on this page will change to a new format in early March 2025.Once this happens, the current version of the form will no longer be available.
2025-01-01 00:01
Updated this licence to cover the period 1 January to 31 December 2025. Reworded several sections to make the information clearer, including licence notes a and b. Updated the ‘Avian influenza’ information and advice note.
2024-01-01 00:01
There is an update to this licence for 1 January 2024.
2023-01-01 00:15
Annual licence update, valid from 1 January 2023.
2022-10-21 17:56
Page updated: You should only complete and submit a survey return form between 1 and 31 January. If you need to submit it outside these dates (for exceptional reasons only) email wildlife.scicons@naturalengland.org.uk