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Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I rise to support my noble friends Lady Byford and Lord Peel and all those who have argued against that environmental pest, the grey squirrel. It seems extraordinary that we are creating a body, Natural England, to look after the wildlife of the UK. We talk about pesticides that are harmful to wildlife, the protection of birds and all the rest, yet we have done virtually nothing about that character, which has such a blackened name that he is known as an environmental pest—the grey squirrel. I have the privilege of being a caretaker of SSSIs. The one thing on which English Nature and the Forestry Commission will agree, when we talk about it, is that the grey squirrel is very damaging to the environment. In fact, it is questionable whether we could continue to have a high canopy in the SSSIs if we were not to control the grey squirrel. We control the grey squirrel by all the accepted control methods. We kill thousands of grey squirrels per year, year on year. If we were to stop for one year we would be back to square one. It is so brilliant a survivor that any control over it has to be maintained year on year. I am glad to hear that the Government have leaked through the media that they are intending to control the grey squirrel because of songbirds, but I hope they will also consider controlling it because of the rest of the damage that it causes to our natural environment. What worries me is whether when they come forward with the controls they will say how many years they will control it for, because there seems to me no point in spending a great deal of money to control the grey squirrels one year when the next year the grey squirrel will carry on doing the damage as normal. I also mention briefly the songbird trust: a new trust that has been set up recently that is looking into the damage grey squirrels do to songbirds. It will be particularly enlightening when its research comes forth in a year or so. I would also like to say to my noble friend Lord Dixon-Smith that, while I agree with his statements, the muntjac is perhaps one of the best eating deer. I strongly suggest that the more aggressive shooting management of it might be to the enjoyment of all.