Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's policy that gamebird releases require a buffer zone from a European protected site, for what reason (a) walking, (b) organised bird watching events and (c) other activities which can disturb wildlife within several hundred meters do not have a buffer zone applied to them.

There is scientific evidence that the release of non-native gamebirds can have negative impacts on protected habitats and species, particularly through nutrient enrichment of the soil and depletion of vegetation, and that these impacts can be felt beyond the point of release. Whilst we look to improve our understanding of this impact on specific sites Defra’s interim general licence proposals on non-native gamebird releases therefore relate not only to European protected sites but a buffer zone around these sites.