Is Night Vision Legal in the UK? And Is Thermal Legal for Deer?

"Is night vision legal in the UK?" and "is thermal legal for deer?" look like the same question. They are not, and the difference is where most people go wrong. Owning the kit and using it on a particular animal, at a particular time, in a particular part of the UK are three separate tests — and the answers diverge sharply once you cross the border into Scotland or the Irish Sea.

Owning night vision or thermal: unrestricted

There is no licence, certificate or registration for owning a night vision or thermal device anywhere in the United Kingdom. As we set out in do you need a licence for a rifle scope, section 57(1) of the Firearms Act 1968 only reaches lethal barrelled weapons, prohibited weapons, certain component parts and noise or flash accessories. An image intensifier or a microbolometer is none of those. Buying a thermal spotter is, legally, like buying a camera.

The regulated question is what you use it for.

England and Wales: the Deer Act 1991

In England and Wales, section 3 of the Deer Act 1991 makes it an offence if a person "takes or intentionally kills any deer between the expiry of the first hour after sunset and the beginning of the last hour before sunrise", subject to the exceptions in sections 6 and 8.

Note what that offence is about: the time of day, not the sight. The Deer Act does not prescribe what kind of sight you may fit. A thermal or digital scope used on deer in daylight, or inside the legal shooting window, is not caught by section 3. What the Act does is close the night down unless something else opens it.

Licence CL55 and licence A16

The thing that opens it is a Natural England licence. There are two routes:

• CL55, a class licence to kill deer at night by shooting, for public health and safety, natural heritage conservation, or preventing serious damage to property. It authorises acts that would otherwise be offences under the Deer Act 1991.
• A16, an individual licence covering close season and night shooting where the class licence does not fit.

CL55 is a registration scheme, not a free-for-all. Natural England's published licence terms require you to register before use, to submit a site notification in advance of acting, and to fall within one of four eligibility categories built around deer shooting qualifications and documented experience. It also specifies the equipment you may use — broadly, a conventional day scope paired with a lamp, a Generation 2 or 3 night vision riflescope with infrared illumination, or a thermal riflescope meeting stated specifications. Species and seasonal windows are set out in the licence, with red deer restricted to named counties.

If you are shooting deer at night in England, read the licence itself. It is the operative document and it changes.

Wales is not covered by those licences. CL55 and A16 are Natural England licences and apply in England. The Deer Act 1991 extends to Wales, but licensing there sits with Natural Resources Wales, whose published deer licensing covers a narrower set of purposes. If you shoot in Wales, ask NRW what is available before assuming an English licence helps you.

Scotland: authorisation from NatureScot, and the 2023 change

Scotland answers the same question through the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996. Night there runs from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise, and shooting inside that window requires a night shooting authorisation from NatureScot, granted under section 18(2). Applicants must show that no other reasonable means of control would be adequate, and anyone nominated to carry out the control generally has to be on NatureScot's Fit and Competent register, with exceptions for owners, occupiers, employees and residents on the land.

Scotland also used to do something England and Wales never did: it regulated the sight itself. Article 5 of the Deer (Firearms etc.) (Scotland) Order 1985 prohibited the use of a light-intensifying, heat-sensitive or other special sighting device for night shooting — a 1985 provision aimed at poaching. That prohibition is gone. The Deer (Firearms etc.) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2023 (SSI 2023/332) substituted article 5(b) so that "a sight of any type including light-intensifying, heat-sensitive or other special sighting device for night shooting" may now be used. NatureScot dates the change to 3 November 2023 and confirms it covers thermal, night vision and digital sights, for night and day use alike.

The same Order also cut the minimum bullet weight in article 3(a) from 100 grains (6.48 g) to 80 grains (5.3 g) for deer species other than roe, to make non-lead ammunition workable.

So the Scottish position now is: the sight is unregulated, but the night is still authorised. Removing the sight restriction did not remove the need for a section 18 authorisation.

Northern Ireland: neither of the above

Northern Ireland falls under the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, not the Deer Act 1991 or the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996, and its prohibitions on artificial light and night-sighting devices are drawn differently again. BASC's night shooting guidance notes, for instance, that Article 12(2) of the Order makes it illegal to use any form of artificial light or any night-sighting device to kill hares in Northern Ireland — a restriction with no Great Britain equivalent.

If you shoot in Northern Ireland, none of the England, Wales or Scotland answers above apply to you. Take the current position from DAERA and from the PSNI Firearms and Explosives Branch directly.

Foxes and pest species are a different question again

Much of the confusion around night vision comes from people generalising from foxes to deer. BASC's guidance records no prohibition on artificial light or night vision devices for foxes anywhere in the UK. Deer are protected quarry with their own statute; foxes are not. The kit is the same, the law is not.

The Schedule 6 trap

One rule catches out lampers and thermal users across Great Britain regardless of quarry. Section 11(2) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 prohibits using "any device for illuminating a target or sighting device for night shooting", or "any artificial light, mirror or other dazzling device", to take or kill any wild animal listed in Schedule 6. That schedule includes badger, hedgehog, otter, pine marten, polecat, red squirrel, dormice, shrews, wildcat and bats. Grey squirrel is not on it.

The picture at a glance

What this means in practice

• Buying thermal is easy; using it on deer at night is not. The purchase is unregulated in all four nations. The shot is licensed in at least three of them.
• Do not scan with a rifle. BASC's standing advice is that a firearm fitted with a telescopic, night vision or thermal device must never be used for scanning or searching for quarry. Spot with a handheld unit, then mount the rifle.
• For legal last light, the answer is usually a better day scope. Inside the lawful window, what helps is a large objective, a low bottom-end magnification and a reticle whose illumination will go dim enough to avoid blooming. That is exactly what our deer stalking scopes are selected for, and it is worth reading FFP vs SFP before you choose one.
• A good lamp still has a job. Where lamping is lawful for your quarry, output and throw matter more than headline lumens — see lumens vs candela, then our handheld flashlights and weapon lights.

This is not legal advice

This article explains a framework and links to the sources. It is not legal advice, it is not a substitute for reading a licence you intend to rely on, and it cannot account for your own certificate conditions, which vary by certificate and by force. Deer and wildlife law is amended regularly — confirm the current position with Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, NatureScot, DAERA or your force's firearms licensing department before you act on any of it.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to own a thermal scope in the UK?
Yes. There is no licence or certificate for owning night vision or thermal anywhere in the UK. The restrictions are on use, not ownership.

Can I use thermal on deer in Scotland?
The sight-type prohibition was removed on 3 November 2023 by SSI 2023/332. Shooting deer at night in Scotland still requires a night shooting authorisation from NatureScot under section 18(2) of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996.

Can I shoot deer at night in England?
Not without a licence. Section 3 of the Deer Act 1991 makes it an offence; Natural England's CL55 class licence or an A16 individual licence can authorise it, subject to registration, site notification, eligibility and equipment conditions.

Does using a thermal scope in daylight break any UK law?
Nothing in the Deer Act 1991 restricts sight type, and Scotland's restriction was removed in 2023. Other statutes may still apply to the species you are shooting — Schedule 6 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in particular.

If you are choosing glass for legal shooting light rather than for after dark, start with deer stalking scopes and rifle scopes, or read can you use a red dot for deer stalking for where magnification actually earns its keep.