Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow in south Shropshire, has become the project’s fourth butterfly champion. Philip will be championing the wood white butterfly, a declining species with a localised distribution that remains in just a few key strongholds in Britain, including the woodlands in Philip’s own constituency.
Caroline Spelman, a former Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, has joined the project to champion one of the UK’s fastest declining birds. Willow tit numbers have fallen rapidly since the 1970s, although a few stable populations remain, including in the Midlands where Caroline is MP for Meriden.
Angela Smith MP, species champion for the Hen harrier guests blogs on the RSPB website about the killing of wild birds.
Second species champions newsletter sent to MPs
A two page newsletter has been sent to MP species champions, to update them on progress with the project and to show what MPs are doing around the country to help their species.The newsletter will be sent out twice a year.
MP for Wyre Forest, Mark Garnier, is championing the UK’s smallest and rarest woodpecker, the lesser-spotted woodpecker. Listed on the UK Red List of birds of highest conservation concern, the species is predominately found in the south-east of England, but is also found in Mark’s Worcestershire constituency.
Anna Turley, MP for Redcar, has agreed to champion the little tern, a species threatened by climate change and coastal development. After declining rapidly since the 1980s the little tern is now the target of an EU funded project aiming to improve the species conservation status.
Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton, has joined the project as species champion for the round-headed rampion. This plant is nationally scarce but common on the South Downs, and is the official county flower, known locally as the ‘Pride of Sussex’.
MP for Chatham and Aylesford, Tracey Crouch, is championing the common poppy. Although one of the most familiar of our wild flowers, poppies have declined in the UK in recent years as a result of intensive agricultural practices.
On Thursday 1 December the House of Commons debated the future of the UK fishing industry. Scott Mann, MP for North Cornwall and species champion for the sea bass, spoke up for recreational anglers and mentioned the critical level of bass stocks. He welcomed proposals by some inshore fisheries and conservation authorities to remove gill nets from estuaries.
Four MPs spoke out for their species during a debate in parliament earlier this month. Kerry McCarthy, champion for the swift; Angela Smith, champion for the hen harrier; Rachael Maskell, Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment and champion for the tansy beetle; and Dr Thérèse Coffey, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment and champion for the bittern, all declared their involvement in the Species Champions project during a parliamentary debate on global biodiversity.
The Westminster Hall debate was held in recognition of the findings of WWF’s Living Planet Report 2016, which shows that global wildlife populations have fallen by 58% since 1970. MPs recognised the significant threats that the natural world faces, and showed their support for government action. During the debate Kerry McCarthy in her role as Species Champion for the swift explained the reasons for the bird’s decline, and told her fellow MPs about action she will take in her constituency to help the species recover. To read the debate click here.
