Written question asked by Lord Rotherwick (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Bach (Labour) on Wednesday, 30 November 2005.

Wild Birds

Question: Whether they have conducted any research into predation on songbirds in recent years; and, if so, what were the results.

Answer: Wild bird populations are one of the Government’s indicators for sustainable development and new statistics were published on 20 October showing that overall, bird populations across the UK are almost 10 per cent higher than 10 years ago. The Government fund the analysis to produce these statistics as well as research into the reasons behind the trends. For example, between 2000 and 2002 we funded research to understand the reasons behind the worrying declines in house sparrows and starlings. The research indicated a number of reasons for the decline of which predation by domestic cats and sparrowhawks was thought to be one of the reasons of decline in urban house sparrows. Other research by English Nature found no evidence that predation by magpies and sparrowhawks causes effects on overall bird populations, habitat being the primary determining factor.Other organisations, such as the Forestry Commission, the Game Conservancy Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology have also carried out important research in this area.For further information see:www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/resprog/findings/sparrow/index.htm.www.english-nature.org.uk/pubs/publication/pub–results.asp?C=0&K=144&K2=&l=&A=& Submit1=Search.

Secondary information