§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the latest populations of212W wild bird species; what were the equivalent figures for 1985 and 1990; if he will indicate the estimated total and percentage change in each case; and if he will make a statement. [9023]
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesThe most recent estimates of the populations of wild birds are presented in "The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland: 1988–91", Gibbons, Reid and Chapman, 1993. Earlier estimates were published in "The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland", Sharrock 1976. Trends in populations of wild birds are addressed in "Population trends in British Breeding Birds", Marchant et al, 1990.
Information on how the size of wild bird populations changes over time is collected and reported annually through specially designed monitoring schemes, including the breeding birds survey, the wetland bird survey and the common birds census.