Songbirds

Lord Hope of Craighead Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2018 Grand Committee

[Lord Hope of Craighead (CB)]

My Lords, I too am grateful to the noble Earl for securing this debate on a troublesome subject. I have to declare one interest as the holder of a licence: a ringing permit from the British Trust for Ornithology. For over 50 years, I have been handling LBJs in migration stations in the Firth of Forth.

That there is a serious decline in the numbers of our songbirds is undeniable. Some species are more affected than others but I cannot think of a single songbird species that is more abundant than it was over 20 years ago. When I think about the reasons for this, threats from non-native species are not high on my list. On my list are the various challenges, almost all manmade, which affect birds that migrate and affect the places where they wish to breed when they get here.

Almost all our songbirds migrate to some extent but the worst affected are the insect-eating birds that migrate south to Africa. They face increasing obstacles that affect their ability to survive the journey. Climate change dries out areas where previously they could rest and feed; there are changes in land use; stopover sites which were previously available leave them starving for food which they need as fuel for their journeys. Then there is the appalling slaughter of birds in some parts of southern Europe where the traditional pursuits of capturing and killing songbirds still live on, despite the EU directives. It has been estimated that more than 11 million birds are killed or captured in the Mediterranean region every year. Can the Minister assure us that we will continue to press the Governments of the countries involved to stamp out this practice as vigorously as possible? The environment that the birds breed in once they get here is vital too. We need to conserve the hedgerows and meadows where our birds breed and replace those that have been lost. Are we doing enough in that area?

Predation by our own native species plays a significant part. I think of magpies, sparrow-hawks, stoats and hedgehogs. We have to accept these as part of the way that our natural environment works. On the whole, birds learn to cope with these hazards. I worry about magpies, however, a huge increase in the numbers of which seems to have coincided—at least in my area—with the decline in songbirds. I wish that something could be done to control their numbers but the Minister may agree that to try to interfere with the course of nature among our native species, so as to prefer one over another, would set an unfortunate precedent.

What about invasive non-native species such as the ring-necked parakeet, to which the noble Earl referred? It is non-native and, in some places, invasive. I would be interested to know, however, how much they affect the survival of songbirds. They compete with other hole-nesting birds but not all our songbirds nest in holes. They compete with those that rely on bird feeders and bird tables but not all our songbirds look to bird tables for their feeding; they feed on insects instead. Parakeets are by nature vegetarians. In India, where they come from, they take only seeds, flowers, fruits and nectar. For these reasons, I am not sure that there really is a case for controlling parakeets because they are a threat to songbirds. Of course the grey squirrel is the main non-native species that one might be really concerned about and there is a case for controlling their numbers. In my area of Scotland, we are fortunate because the squirrels are red but the threat of grey squirrels is very present not far away. I look forward to hearing from the Minister what progress has been made in controlling the numbers of grey squirrels.

This is a serious problem. I have two other interests that I should declare at this time: I am a member of the Scottish Ornithologists Club and of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, both of which do great work in trying to promote the interests of songbirds.