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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the size of the UK population of cirl bunting; and what steps they are taking to protect that population.

The Government’s agri-environment schemes have been designed to encourage habitat management to promote cirl bunting conservation in targeted areas, specifically to provide suitable nesting and all year round foraging habitats.

Cirl bunting populations have increased significantly in the south west, where they only occur because this is the edge of their European range. The Government’s wild bird statistics, which measure relative abundance, show an increase in the cirl bunting population of 79% between 1970 and 2015.

The British Birds Survey of cirl buntings in 2016 estimated the UK population at 1,079 pairs. This represents a nine fold increase since the bird became the subject of a dedicated species recovery programme in Devon and Cornwall.