§ Mr. Barry FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will commission a study into the effects of prolonged drought on bird life that requires a diet of freshwater fish; and what information he has on the numbers of herons observed fishing in the sea along the south coast.
§ Mr. TrippierThere is no evidence that the risk to birds from the effects of drought is so significant as to justify commissioning a study. Populations of herons and other waterways birds are monitored annually. I have no information about the extent to which herons fish in the sea, but I understand that it is not unusual.