Does anyone know the laws on photographing wildlife

[Hawk]

Hey

Can anyone help me? Do you if there are laws with photographing wildlife Im not sure if there are any but i dont want to get caught out if i do something illegal when im taking photographs

Hawk

[Kayleigh]

your not allowed to take photos of nesting birds but I don't know of any other laws on other wildlife photography. The RSPB has info on birds.

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

your not allowed to take photos of nesting birds but I don't know of any other laws on other wildlife photography.

I've not heard that one before. I know you can't disturb nests, etc. but where do all those photos and clips on the net and other publications come from if you're not allowed to photograph them?

[Kayleigh]

I think your ok if you don't disturb the nest. I don't think you can post pics on here of nesting birds.

[Hawk]

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

I've not heard that one before. I know you can't disturb nests, etc. but where do all those photos and clips on the net and other publications come from if you're not allowed to photograph them?

i think you can obtain licences from organisations such as SNH to photograph nests etc

[agrumpycow]

I've just done a bit of online research beacuse I was getting myself confused (not hard, I know!)
The best info I can find so far is on birdimages.co.uk. Very useful and info which some people may not know. You can find it here: http://www.birdimages.co.uk/(d4tuepm...tcm5-43180.pdf

[pressld2]

It's an offence to recklessly disturb "schedule 1" birds during the nesting season. You can see a list of schedule 1 birds at Naturenet: Schedule 1 Birds. It is possible to obtain a licence (from Natural England) to photograph schedule 1 birds at the nest but it is a fairly long and complex procedure to do so. JeffH posted some excellent advice on how to do this in his Kingfisher Diary with Photos thread - see page 6, posts 129 and 136 specifically.

You do not need a licence to photograph non-schedule 1 birds like the blue tits or blackbirds in your garden, but even here you should obviously avoid disturbing the birds at the nest. I believe WAB's policy for Gallery submissions is "no photographs taken at the nest".

Dave P.

[FlyAgaric]

Originally Posted by Hawk

Hey

Can anyone help me? Do you if there are laws with photographing wildlife Im not sure if there are any but i dont want to get caught out if i do something illegal when im taking photographs

Hawk

I think if you stick to photographing the kind of birds with wings your be fine, other types and you might find yourself in some bother

But seriously I never heard of anyone getting in trouble for photographing of filming wildlife myself.

[Chris_Johnstone]

I think common sense lends itself here. Most people on this forum are nature lovers and would go out of their way not to disturb any wildlife and maintain the nature they photograph. I know in certain situations, in which I sometimes find myself, you know that by manipulating the subject or the environment you can achieve a better shot but this goes against the fidelity of the natural world.

In many cases, preventing photographs being taken is for the animal's own protection. If you shot nesting birds of a rare species with sufficient scope for an identifiable background, you run the risk of putting the nest in danger from poachers etc.

Just use your head :-)

Chris

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by FlyAgaric

I think if you stick to photographing the kind of birds with wings your be fine, other types and you might find yourself in some bother

But seriously I never heard of anyone getting in trouble for photographing of filming wildlife myself.

Someone was recently arrested recently for trying to take pics of an osprey at the nest
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/le51_tcm9-148742.pdf