Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

[Schmetterling]

How many people are aware of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, schedule 5, section 9? This covers the disturbance and destruction of endangered butterflies. This is worth consideration before visiting reserves, SSSIs etc.

[Pete Eeles]

Moved out of the 'Personal Diaries'!

We do have a section on this: https://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/webpage.php?name=law

However, there is a lot of interpretation needed for some of the wording, which is where things can get very messy.

Hopefully, this thread will shed some light on what is, and what is not, permissible by law.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

Snip from the Act.

Partially-protected Species

The table below lists those species that have partial protection; they are protected by Section 9, Parts 5(a) and 5(b) and, as such, are characterised as being protected for "Sale only".

Small Blue

Exemptions
There are certain exemptions to the act which are relevant when:

Carrying out scientific investigations

That suggests that my experiment to determine the presence of Small Blue near Nethy Bridge is not against the law. 
See separate reports about Small Blue on 9th June at Ardersier. viewtopic.php?t=11716&start=20#p178732

Jack