Written question WQ86872
- Asked by
- Joel JamesConservative
- To be answered by
- Minister for Climate Change
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 7 days
Question
What assessment has the Minister made on how many curlew nests there were on RSPB and non-RSPB nature reserves in each of the last five years?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Climate Change
Considerable and detailed information on the plight of the curlew has been provided by the Welsh Ornithological Society in their publication “The Birds of Wales/Adar Cymru” (2021 edition). Copies have been provided to Welsh Government and it includes data from RSPB and other sources. However, the publication does not include information in the format you have requested.
Many curlew nesting sites are not on nature reserves. Management patterns are subject to the priorities of farmers, gamekeepers and landowners who are not required to report curlew data.
We do not hold information on how many curlews failed to have any chicks fledge, or the reasons for such failures. The general decline of Curlews can be attributed to a combination of factors such as habitat loss, fragmentation, predation, and inappropriate land management practice
The Gylfinir Cymru/Curlew Wales Partnership has developed a Wales action plan for the recovery of curlew including conservation proposals for several important curlew sites in Wales. RSPB is an active member of the partnership and work starts in 2023. So, in the future it should be possible to compare the conservation outputs at these sites.