Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

3 Areas of special protection

(1) The Secretary of State may by order make provision with respect to any area specified in the order providing for all or any of the following matters, that is to say—

(a) that any person who, within that area or any part of it specified in the order, at any time or during any period so specified, intentionally—

(i) kills, injures or takes any wild bird or any wild bird so specified;

(ii) takes, damages or destroys the nest of such a bird while that nest is in use or being built;

(iii) takes or destroys an egg of such a bird ;

(iv) disturbs such a bird while it is building a nest or is in, on or near a nest containing eggs or young; or

(v) disturbs dependent young of such a bird, shall be guilty of an offence under this section ;

(b) that any person who, except as may be provided in the order, enters into that area or any part of it specified in the order at any time or during any period so specified shall be guilty of an offence under this section ;

(c) that where any offence under this Part, or any such offence under this Part as may be specified in the order, is committed within that area, the offender shall be liable to a special penalty.

(2) An authorised person shall not by virtue of any such order be guilty of an offence by reason of—

(a) the killing or taking of a bird included in Part II of Schedule 2, or the injuring of such a bird in the course of an attempt to kill it;

(b) the taking, damaging or destruction of the nest of such a bird;

(c) the taking or destruction of an egg of such a bird ; or

(d) the disturbance of such a bird or dependent young of such a bird.

(3) The making of any order under this section with respect to any area shall not affect the exercise by any person of any right vested in him, whether as owner, lessee or occupier of any land in that area or by virtue of a licence or agreement.

(4) Before making any order under this section the Secretary of State shall give particulars of the intended order either by notice in writing to every owner and every occupier of any land included in the area with respect to which the order is to be made or, where the giving of such a notice is in his opinion impracticable, by advertisement in a newspaper circulating in the district in which that area is situated.

(5) The Secretary of State shall not make an order under this section unless—

(a) all the owners and occupiers aforesaid have consented thereto;

(b) no objections thereto have been made by any of those owners or occupiers before the expiration of a period of three months from the date of the giving of the notice or the publication of the advertisement; or

(c) any such objections so made have been withdrawn.