Vol. 549 No. 3
351 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands her views on the decline in the number of yellowhammers; the way in which the numbers compare with 20 years ago; and her plans to redress the situation. [6904/02]
Yellowhammers are non-migratory seed-grain eating buntings closely related to the finches. Around 1900 they were considered to be common throughout the lowland countryside, especially in areas of mixed farming. By 1950, it was thought little change had taken place in both numbers and distribution. The first distributional survey of this species – and all other Irish breeding birds – was carried out in 1968-72 and published in The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. This showed the yellowhammer to be present in most parts of Ireland where suitable habitat occurred. However, a new survey in 1988-91 – The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland – showed a major reduction in the species' range. The species was now absent from large areas of the north midlands, the north west, and the south west. This represented a 37% contraction in breeding range, as distinct from numbers, in about 20 years. Unfortunately the first survey was completely non-quantitative, while the second survey was only semi-quantitative, and therefore it is not possible to say what reduction in numbers took place as a result of the range contraction. Nevertheless, the range contraction justified the inclusion of the yellowhammer on the red list of species of conservation concern which is maintained by BirdWatch Ireland and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that, in order to monitor numbers and distribution of this species and other countryside birds, a new ongoing project, named the countryside bird survey, commenced four years ago, and over the years will indicate population trends. While data collection is ongoing, it is too early to draw definitive conclusions on population trends based on the limited data collected to date. The countryside bird survey is a joint project of Dúchas – the heritage service of my Department and Birdwatch Ireland.
The indications are that the decline in yellowhammers in Ireland is due to changes in agriculture over the last 50 years or so. Post-war mechanisation; increasing use of artificial fertilisers; herbicides and pesticides; removal of hedgerows; loss of winter stubbles with the switch to autumn sowing of cereals; overall reduction in mixed farming; reduction in oat growing with the decline in horses, etc. all combined to make the Irish countryside less hospitable for this and many other species.
The rural environment protection scheme, REPS, and other agri-environment measures, for example, set-aside, which are being increasingly taken up by farmers throughout the country, have the potential to undo some of the harmful effects of over-intensification in agriculture. I hope this will result in some recovery of bird populations which have declined in recent decades.
The EU birds directive requires that member states maintain a favourable conservation status for all wild bird species occurring in their territories. Schemes such as REPS are considered to be the most appropriate way of achieving this for widespread farmland bird species such as the yellowhammer.
