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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to establish reserves for birds in England.

The England terrestrial network of protected sites covers an area of over one million hectares and nearly 23 million hectares in the marine environment. This provides valuable habitat for many rare, threatened and regularly occurring migratory birds, even where not specifically designated for that purpose. Under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, competent authorities also have a duty to take steps to preserve, maintain and re-establish habitat for wild birds.