§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what his estimate is of the number of raptors of each species(a) breeding and (b) resident in England. [128825]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 3 July 2000]: A Raptor Working Group was set up in 1995 to consider issues arising from perceived conflicts between the recovery of some bird of prey populations and their impact on game birds and moorland management and on racing pigeons. Earlier this year, the group submitted its final report, which includes estimates of raptor population sizes. The figures are taken from the report and show the best estimates of sizes of breeding population for birds of prey in England using data and information, where possible, from published sources. The total number of birds of prey will be greater than these estimates in the post-breeding season owing to the number of fledged young and other non-breeding individuals.
Copies of the report have been deposited in the House Library.
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Species Units of estimation England Date of estimate Sparrowhawk Pairs 622,000 61988–91 Buzzard Pairs 64,000–6,000 61988–91, 71983 Golden Eagle Pairs 81 81992 Osprey Pairs No breeding population 11997 Kestrel Pairs 635,500 61988–91 Merlin Pairs 9401 91993–94, 101993, 111992–95 Hobby Pairs 6500–900 11997, 41994, 61988–91 Peregrine Pairs 12283 121991 1Ogilvie, MA & the Rare Breeding Birds Panel 1999b Rare breeding birds in the United Kingdom in 1997. British Birds 92: 389–428. 2Sim, IMW, Gibbons, DW, Bainbridge, I & Mattingley, W 1999 Status of the hen harrier Circus cyaneus in the UK and the Isle of Man in 1998. Draft report to Raptor Working Group. 3Petty, SJ 1996 History of the northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis in Britain. In: The introduction and naturalisation of birds, ed. by JS Holmes and JR Simons, 95–102. London, HMSO. 4Ogilvie, MA & the Rare Breeding Birds Panel 1996. Rare breeding birds in the United Kingdom in 1994. British Birds 89: 387–417. 5Shrubb, M. 1994. Welsh Bird Report No. 7 1993. Glamorgan, The Welsh Ornithological Society. 6Gibbons, DW, Reid, JB & Chapman, RA 1993 The new atlas of breeding birds in Britain and Ireland: 1988–1991. London, T & AD Poyser. 7Taylor, K, Hudson, R & Horne, G 1988. Buzzard breeding distribution and abundance in Britain and Northern Ireland in 1983. Bird Study 35: 109–118. 8Green, RE 1996 The status of the golden eagle in Britain in 1992. Bird Study 43: 20–27. 9Rebecca, G & Bainbridge, IP 1998. The breeding status of the merlin Falco columbarius in Britain in 1993–94. Bird Study 45: 172–187. 10Williams, IT & Parr, S 1995. Breeding merlins Falco columbarius in Wales 1993. Welsh Birds 1: 14–20. 11RSPB/Irish Raptor Study Group survey data. 12Crick, HQP & Ratcliffe, DA 1995. The peregrine Falco peregrinus breeding population of the United Kingdom in 1991. Bird Study 42: 1–19.