Clause 46 - Protection for nests of certain birds which re-use their nests
Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill
5:00 pm
James Paice (Shadow Minister (Agriculture), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
Or they lay them in somebody else’s nest, like cuckoos, as my hon. Friend says. I do not expect that the Minister is planning to extend the legislation to cuckoos—but we need to define what is meant.
I consider those three amendments to be quite important in addressing weaknesses in a proposal that I entirely support in principle.
The hon. Member for South-East Cornwall and his colleagues have tabled another amendment that would extend the schedule to a further five species. As I implied in my earlier comments, that is where I begin to have some concern. I do not wish to pre-empt their advocacy of those five species, although I know the source of the proposal. However, I am concerned that such an extension would cause serious problems. Some of those species are ground-nesting birds. Some of them do not use the same nest again; they may nest in the same vicinity but they do not use the same nest. We shall get into difficulties if we allow the list to be extended.
The three species included in the schedule are wonderful, tremendous birds. It is a thrill to see them at all, and we should delight in the fact that at least two of them are in our countryside—the white-tailed sea eagle is not there yet, but I hope that it will be—and they need to be protected. I am wary in case we extend the provisions too far. I think that I have made that point thoroughly.
The three amendments I have tabled are intended to get the legislation right. They fulfil the role for us that I described this morning—as legislators trying to get it right. The amendments are not designed to negate or reduce the impact of the legislation—as I suspect some of my critics might think—they are designed to get the legislation right. I hope that the Minister will feel amenable to their spirit, if not their words.