North Wales MS and Wales Species Champion for the Curlew, Mark Isherwood, has again raised the plight of this endangered species with the Welsh Government.
Questioning the Deputy First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies MS, in today’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood asked what action the Welsh Government is taking to reverse species loss, before going on to question him about action to protect the Curlew.
He said:
“The Curlew, embedded in the culture of Wales, is forecast to be extinct as a breeding population in Wales by 2033 without interventions. Due to the severity of breeding Curlew declines in the UK and Ireland, there's growing widespread interest in the potential for head-starting as a conservation intervention to aid Curlew recovery, with the release into the wild of birds that have been hatched and reared from eggs harvested from the wild.
“What consideration have you therefore given, or will you give, to the Gylfinir Cymru/Curlew Wales paper, 'A Framework For Head-starting Eurasian Curlew in Wales'? Further, noting your meeting last month with a delegation representing the Gylfinir Cymru Agricultural Environment Schemes sub-group, after which they told me that you ‘seemed to grasp well the multiple benefits that managing beneficially for Curlew could bring to both the environment and people’, what action have you taken following your recognition at that meeting that Gylfinir Cymru is an essential group with which to liaise, and your agreement to nudge the policy makers with whom they need to liaise?”
In his response, the Cabinet Secretary thanked Mr Isherwood for the work he is doing “in championing this iconic species”.
He added:
“I'm keen to work with the evidence. It was a good meeting (Last month). I'm very pleased to see new and innovative ways also that we are using technology to understand some of the challenges the species face. I'll keep that engagement going, and I'm more than happy to meet with you as well to discuss what we're doing in this space.”
