Close seasons written into the act itself
Snipe to 11 August, wild duck and geese below high water to 31 August — and no shooting on Sundays in Scotland.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects wild birds, then carves out exceptions. A person is not guilty of the section 1 offence by reason of killing or taking a bird included in Part I of Schedule 2 outside the close season for that bird, or injuring such a bird outside that season in the course of an attempt to kill it. The act defines those close seasons itself. For capercaillie and, except in Scotland, woodcock, the period runs from 1 February to 30 September. For snipe, from 1 February to 11 August. For wild duck and wild geese in or over any area below the high-water mark of ordinary spring tides, from 21 February to 31 August. In any other case, from 1 February to 31 August. The Secretary of State may by order vary the close season for a specified wild bird, for the whole or any part of Great Britain. Two calendar restrictions follow: in Scotland these exceptions apply on neither Sundays nor Christmas Day; in England and Wales the Secretary of State may prescribe by order areas where the exception does not apply on Sundays. For deer, the Deer Act 1991 makes it an offence to take or intentionally kill deer of the species and descriptions listed in its Schedule 1 during the prescribed close season. One exception concerns farming: a person who, by way of business, keeps deer on land enclosed by a deer-proof barrier for the production of meat, skins or other by-products, or as breeding stock, and marks them conspicuously as such, does not commit that offence by killing them.