Michael Gove seizes powers to overturn curbs on shooting birds after furious protests from farmers

Michael Gove has paved the way for overturning the curbs on shooting birds which triggered death threats against TV naturalist Chris Packham.

Natural England has been stripped of its power over the permits by the environment secretary – who has ordered his own investigation by officials “with intensity and urgency”.

The move follows calls by angry Tory MPs for Mr Gove to “take back control” from Natural England’s new chief Tony Juniper, a leading environmentalist and former head of Friends of The Earth.

In a letter to Mr Jupiter, Mr Gove said he was responding to “concern that has been generated by the decision to revoke” permits allowing farmers to cull “pest” species of birds, such as crows and wood pigeons.

“My judgement is that the present situation needs to be considered with particular intensity and urgency,” Mr Gove wrote.

“I want to gain a clear understanding of the implications for the protection of wild birds, and the impacts on crops, livestock, wildlife, disease, human health and safety and wider nature conservation efforts.”

The restrictions were introduced after legal action by Mr Packham, a BBC presenter – who then revealed death threats and parcels containing human faeces had been sent to his home.

Mr Gove intends to finish the investigation by the end of next weekend and to make a decision just one week later.

Mr Packham revealed the impact of his intervention on Tuesday, saying: “We’ve had packages sent containing human excrement. Last night, a much more serious thing – death threats of a very serious nature.”

Ian Bell, president of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) welcomed Mr Gove’s decision, stating: “BASC hopes this is the first step to resolving the current chaos in the countryside.

“This shambles of the last week or so was created by Natural England’s ill-advised decision to withdraw all licences without consultation or notice and, in effect, remove pest control at a critical time of year.”

James Cartlidge was among Conservative MPs who had held a private meeting with Mr Gove in the past few days, in an attempt to force his intervention.

“People are incredibly angry, a lot of it is going back to how it happened,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“He [Mr Gove] said ‘We’ve just got to get this sorted and get the new licensing regime up and running so people aren’t breaking the law when they do the usual things they do to protect livestock and crops’.”

Natural England had promised to rush out new permits to replace “general licences”, but Mr Juniper asked for that responsibility to be taken over by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Critics had argued the revocation of the licences means farmers risked prosecution if they shoot wild birds that attack livestock and decimate crops.