Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research her Department has commissioned on the predation of songbirds in each of the last five years; at what cost; and from whom.

Richard Benyon; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State:There are two relevant studies that have been commissioned in the last five years.

The five year Sustainable Arable Farming for an Improved Environment (SAFIE) project reported in June 2007. This was a collaborative project with funding from the Home Grown Cereal Authority (HGCA), DEFRA, English Nature and the Scottish Executive with a total cost to DEFRA of £1.483 million. It was a wide ranging project looking at practical techniques for increasing the biodiversity value of farmed land but it included a limited assessment of the impact of nest predation on three bird species (skylark, yellowhammer and yellow wagtail). The project found that 22% of nest studies were lost to predation by badger, weasel, stoat and brown rat. The final report for the SAFIE project is available on the HGCA website.

In 2008, DEFRA commissioned the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) to produce an evidence based review of the causes of decline in wild birds in England. The cost of this research was £63,015 and the final report is available on the DEFRA website. This review found that, in common with many other studies, habitat change was the principal driver of bird declines. The review identified predation as potentially important for a small number of songbirds such as bullfinch or spotted flycatcher.