§ Ms QuinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has about the numbers of glow worms in England over the past 30 years. [6180]
§ Mr. ClappisonThe Government's statutory scientific advisers, English Nature, advise that quantitative data on the abundance of the glow worm—Lampyris noctiluca—in England is scarce. Accurate recording of the population trends is difficult, in particular because the species is nocturnal and is easily detected only for around two weeks of the year.
1098WAvailable information suggests that the British population of Lampyris noctiluca may have declined over the past 50 years but is still present over most of its natural range.