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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to protect woodcock habitat.

Around 150 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) have been notified for woodland breeding bird assemblages, many of which include breeding woodcocks. Conservation objectives for these SSSIs include maintaining the diversity of breeding bird assemblages and maintaining the area of habitat supporting those assemblages.

Countryside Stewardship, the new agri-environment scheme, will have land management options for woodlands and grasslands which are likely to benefit both breeding and wintering woodcock where they are deployed.