Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Official Report 927KB pdf

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Species Champions Initiative (Relaunch)

The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S5M-01734, in the name of Graeme Dey, on the relaunch of the species champions initiative. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament welcomes the relaunch of the Species Champions initiative; understands that Scottish Environment LINK is asking MSPs to become species champions so that they can contribute to the conservation of “their” species in Parliament and help support action in the wider community; welcomes the at least 50 members from across all five parties in the Parliament who have already signed up to the initiative, and understands that, in order to help protect biodiversity in Angus South and across Scotland, Scottish Environment LINK hopes that those members who are yet to get involved will be able to do so.

17:06  

I thank members across the chamber, from all five parties, for supporting the motion, which celebrates the relaunch of Scottish Environment LINK’s species champion initiative, and I welcome to the visitors gallery Eleanor Harris and Daphne Vlastari from Scottish Environment LINK.

I am delighted to advise members that 57 of us have now taken on the role of species champion. We are participating in a programme that asks MSPs to lend political support to the protection of Scotland’s threatened wildlife and to work alongside 15 organisations through Scottish Environment LINK. The figure falls some way short of the figure that was achieved in the previous session, when the initiative was launched but, given that we are just six months into the current session and that retirals have robbed us of stalwarts such as Rob Gibson, Jamie McGrigor and Mary Scanlon, it is fair to say that we are well on course to better the previous total of 76 species champions. That is important because, given the scale of the challenge that we face in protecting threatened species and our wider biodiversity, it is incumbent on all of us—not just those of us who serve on the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee—to provide leadership in the area.

I invite colleagues who have not yet signed up to come along to the introduction event that I will host in the Parliament at lunch time on Thursday and make the commitment. Scottish Environment LINK hopes to have more than 100 champions in the Parliament, and I offer fair warning to the remaining 72 members that it is persistent.

It is good to see again MSPs from urban as well as rural areas participating, because nature, as with the threats to its variety, is not restricted to the countryside. Although we have wonderful countryside in my constituency and in wider Scotland, there is wildlife and the natural environment in our towns and cities, too.

It has been great to see MSPs diving right into their new roles. Maree Todd did that literally in trying Scotland’s new snorkel trail with the Scottish Wildlife Trust in order to learn more about flame shells. I note that Ruth Maguire and Angus MacDonald got up close and personal with their species. However, I have to say gently to Tavish Scott, who is the orca champion, that being filmed holding a toy replica, even at the waterside, really does not count.

I became the species champion for the woolly willow in 2013. That role has taken me to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Corrie Fee in Glen Doll in my constituency and the Ben Lawers nature reserve to learn more about the challenges that have to be overcome if we are to restore the damage that has been done to the woolly willow by overgrazing and climate change. Those visits helped to inform a newsletter that I sent around all the primary schools in my area. I hoped that it would prompt nature projects or at least help to inform nature projects that were taking place.

To prove that I was listening when I was out and about, I will tell members a wee bit about the woolly willow. It is a low shrub with woolly, grey-green leaves that is now restricted to ungrazed areas at high altitude. In all non-arid mountain systems, montane scrub, which consists of species such as the woolly willow, is an important habitat above the tree line. Montane scrub supports a range of unusual plants and invertebrates and is an important foraging area for birds and mammals. In Scotland, that habitat is now virtually absent because of historical grazing by red deer and sheep.

Woolly willow formerly occurred in the scrub zone at the upper limit of forest on mountains with the richest soils, but it has more recently become largely restricted to cliffs. Mountain hares now get in on the grazing act thanks to reduced snow lines, courtesy of climate change.

Nearly all the present localities for the woolly willow are in the central Highlands. Only four of its 13 remaining populations have more than 100 plants. It is estimated that the total number across Scotland is about 1,800 plants. That is why the species is on the endangered list, along with many other species, and that is why Scottish Environment LINK needs MSPs to help to raise awareness of the situation.

The “State of Nature 2016—Scotland” report, which was published in September, detailed work by a number of environmental organisations. It revealed that in Scotland, despite undisputed progress being made in a majority of the areas that are covered by the biodiversity route map to 2020, more than half—I repeat half—of the plant and bird species are declining. A great deal more is required to be done by all of us and not least by us species champions.

With your agreement, Presiding Officer, I will conclude there, because although in the normal course of events, I would happily take up my allocated time in a members’ business debate, in this instance I think that my role is more that of scene setter than being centre stage. I know that a considerable number of colleagues are seeking the opportunity to highlight their allotted species, the challenges that those species face and what actions we as MSPs intend to take to make constituents much more aware and mindful of the threats that are posed to our biodiversity.

Thank you, Mr Dey. You are stealing the words from my script—indeed, a load of members want to speak, so I am minded to accept a motion from Graeme Dey, under rule 8.14.3 of standing orders, to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes.

Motion moved,

That, under Rule 8.14.3, the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes.—[Graeme Dey]

Motion agreed to.

I hope that members will all stick to three minutes each, because that is the only way in which we will manage to get all the species mentioned and let everyone speak.

17:11  

I sincerely thank and congratulate my friend Graeme Dey on securing the debate. The number of MSPs who are taking part demonstrates well the pride that we all take in being species champions. I also thank Scottish Environment LINK, which has done a fantastic job in encouraging MSPs to adopt and promote a species.

Today I proclaim myself to be the proud slow worm champion. In all truth, since the day that I was first elected to a council in 1988, I never imagined in almost 30 years of Sundays that I would ever utter such words. However, I have a job to do on behalf of the slow worm and the first thing that I want to clear up is the fact that it is not a worm at all, and neither is it a snake—it is a fantastic reptile. Although it is superficially a snake, it is actually a legless lizard. [Laughter.] I am glad that I brought a laugh to the minister.

The slow worm is 40cm long and can live for up to 50 years. Unlike snakes, slow worms can blink. They have a flat, forked tongue and, very cleverly, they can lose their tails if they are attacked.

Slow worms are one of our most threatened species. Although they may not be the cutest of animals, they are striking. Males are usually grey or brown—some with bright blue spots—and females and juveniles are bronze or gold, with dark flanks, and often with a stripe down the back. I have brought along a picture of a particularly handsome slow worm for everyone to see. I think that members will agree with me that it is a particularly enhanced variety.

It may surprise some to hear, after seeing the picture, that the slow worm is something of a Casanova—yes, it is true. Courtship in the slow worm world can often last for as long as 10 hours before copulation occurs. I never in my wildest dreams—and I have had some wild dreams, I can tell you—thought that I would be standing in the chamber talking about the sex life of a reptile.

On a completely unrelated matter, I have no idea why I was chosen to be the slow worm champion. However, as a gardener, I am pleased that we have slow worms in some gardens in Scotland—unfortunately, not enough. Known as the gardener’s friend, they spend the majority of their time in deep vegetation or underground in humid, overgrown areas of rough grassland, woodland edges, scrub, gardens, allotments and railway embankments. Best of all, they eat lots and lots of slugs and other garden pests. No wonder they are called the gardener’s friend.

In all seriousness, Scottish Environment LINK and, in the case of the slow worm, Froglife, are doing a fantastic and invaluable job of promoting species. That is my three minutes up, so thank you, Presiding Officer.

17:14  

It is an honour and a privilege to participate in the debate. I recognise the contribution of the Woodland Trust and of Lorna Scott from RSPB Scotland, whom Graeme Dey missed out when he mentioned people from Scottish Environment LINK. I thank everyone who has made the debate possible.

I am the species champion for the Arran whitebeam, which, like me, resides in the west of Scotland. It is an endangered endemic tree species that is found naturally only on the Isle of Arran and which is believed to have been a feature of Arran woodlands since around 4,500 BC.

All the Arran whitebeams are under threat. In 2004, a Scottish Natural Heritage report stated that only 857 Arran whitebeams were left on the island, and it is believed that only a handful of Catacol whitebeams are growing naturally on Arran. That makes it one of the rarest trees in the world. The small size of the population leaves it incredibly vulnerable to extinction.

The existing tree population is threatened by a number of factors, including grazing by deer and sheep, poor soil, exposure to bad weather and pests. One way of assisting the species is to increase surrounding woodland cover to enable the whitebeams to reproduce—Bruce Crawford and I seem to be on a bit of a line in that respect.

SNH is working with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the local Dougarie estate to protect the trees. To ensure their long-term survival, the botanic garden is growing saplings in its nursery, and it has recently planted examples of the trees outside the Scottish Parliament. On Arran, enclosures have been established to protect the trees from overgrazing and the condition of the trees is regularly monitored.

Not only is the whitebeam species very rare but it represents one of the very few tree species that are unique to Scotland, which are therefore a hugely important part of our natural heritage. Such trees provide an invaluable insight into the evolution of trees and species diversification, and their study offers an incredibly important contribution to scientific research. I am therefore committed to the protection and promotion of the trees, which is enormously important.

17:17  

I am delighted to be the species champion for the red squirrel, which is the United Kingdom’s only native squirrel. Numbers have declined rapidly since the introduction in the 19th century of grey squirrels from North America. Greys have replaced the native reds in much of the UK, because they compete for food and habitat and transmit the deadly squirrel pox virus. Action to protect the reds from the greys through population control is therefore necessary.

The saving Scotland’s red squirrels programme aims to sustain populations of reds across the current red-only range, north of the grey squirrel distribution, and in the central Lowlands and key areas of south Scotland. The project partners are the Scottish Wildlife Trust, SNH, Forestry Commission Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates and the Red Squirrel Survival Trust.

In my constituency, 40 red squirrels were released at Dundonnell estate. Some managed to migrate towards Ullapool and, at the end of 2015, they were being seen around cottages 3 miles south of Ullapool. Sadly, some are being killed on the roads. In light of that, BEAR Scotland was approached to ask whether squirrel signs could be erected. BEAR said that it was considering putting up signs, but there was a consultation process, which went on for months. The community decided to take matters into its own hands and put up two signs either side of Leckmelm garden, but one of those was on a council road sign and BEAR came and took it away.

As members will imagine, that upset the locals, especially the children, so they decided to make their own signs, which got great publicity in the press and on social media. That resulted in the intervention by the then transport minister, and signs were eventually put up.

As a lot of the traffic comes from the Stornoway ferry, people also approached CalMac Ferries, which allowed the kids to go on board a ferry, meet the captain and put up signs to warn people from the ferry to drive carefully when they saw squirrels. That has had a positive effect, as there have been more babies this year but, sadly, six have been reported dead on the roads in the past few weeks. In fact, there might be even more dead, as they are often driven over and destroyed before being identified or reported.

I have supported appeals to BEAR Scotland and Transport Scotland, and we await a meeting with staff to look at putting up a road bridge that the squirrels might use. The hope is that that will minimise fatalities at Leckmelm, and it can perhaps be tried on other roads around Ullapool as squirrel numbers rise.

I ask BEAR Scotland, Transport Scotland and Mr Yousaf, if they are listening, to please help us—and all the other volunteers who are so committed to the project—to save our squirrels.

17:20  

I congratulate Graeme Dey on securing today’s debate, which has had widespread interest from members and which is one of the most interesting debates that we have had so far. I thank Scottish Environment LINK for developing the species champion model. Alert members will notice that I am wearing my species champion badge. I was never good enough to get a Blue Peter badge, but, as far as I am concerned, a species champion badge is much better.

I champion the great yellow bumblebee, which can be found on the north coast of Scotland and on some of our islands. Their breeding cycle is relatively short, which is probably an adaptation to the very brief Highland and Island summers that I experience first hand, too. Interestingly, they nest underground, often in the old burrows of small mammals.

Great yellow bumblebees are the UK’s rarest bumblebees. Their population declined more than 80 per cent in the previous century, largely due to the loss of flower-rich meadows, the intensification of farming and changes in grazing practices. They only really survive in the Highlands and Islands region that I represent, where there is flower-rich machair and where traditional crofting practices are still maintained. They are found in the Western Isles, Orkney and the Hebrides; the only mainland population is in Caithness and Sutherland.

Agricultural intensification has drastically changed the landscape and taken away the three main requirements for the great yellow bumblebees’ survival: nesting sites, a pollen supply throughout the season and a suitable place to hibernate through the long winters. Any action to protect them against further depletion—caused by, for example, heavy summer grazing, the addition of harmful fertilisers, the adoption of monocultures or the abandonment of rotational machair cropping—is likely also to hugely benefit a range of other insect species.

Thurso was privileged to receive a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund last year to create a fantastic project called Thurso: gateway to the great yellow, which I have had the great privilege to visit. The project created the first great yellow bumblebee town and includes education and outreach activities as well as wide-ranging practical measures to help with the preservation of this dwindling species. That has been a great boost for local biodiversity—not just for the great yellow bumblebee, but for many pollinators in the area. They have been struggling due to the reduction in wildflowers and the use of pesticides such as neonicotinoids, which are known to be destructive to those species.

Many organisations are already taking steps to work together for the great yellow bumblebee. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust has been monitoring the species and working on habitat management, and has received funding from Scottish National Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund for a dedicated bee conservation officer for Scotland. The species action framework programme has also trained many volunteers who support the species, and organisations such as the RSPB are managing their sites within the bees’ distribution range to encourage them.

The initiative is excellent and I will encourage Labour members who are not yet involved to become species champions during the parliamentary session.

17:24  

I thank Scottish Environment LINK and the Marine Conservation Society for introducing me to my species. I am delighted to have the opportunity to talk tonight about the amazing flame shell. It is a beautiful scallop-like creature with lots of bright orange tentacles appearing between its two shells. It might look as if it belongs in tropical seas, but it lives off the west coast of Scotland and is a vital component of the marine ecosystem there.

What is so special about the flame shell? Few of us will ever see it in its natural habitat. It lives almost completely hidden on the seabed inside nests that are built up from shells, stones and other materials around them. The flame shell reefs are good hunting grounds for juvenile cod and haddock, and offer good attachment for scallop spat. Protecting flame shell beds helps to protect hundreds of other species and supports important nursery and feeding areas for commercial species.

Conservation of flame shell beds and other priority marine features makes commercial as well as ecological sense. Because flame shells are recognised as such an important habitat-forming species, the new marine protected areas protect them from trawling and dredging. MPAs have been welcomed in my community, but we recognise the need to have a marine monitoring strategy, to make sure that the protection is working and to demonstrate the wider benefits.

As Graeme Dey said, during the October recess, I tried out Scotland’s first snorkel trail, in Clachtoll in Sutherland. The Scottish Wildlife Trust has put together welcome guidance to help visitors explore our coastline, which is bursting with marine life. I did not manage to see a flame shell, but swimming in crystal-clear waters with white sands and turquoise seas was hardly a disappointment, and I saw plenty of crabs, flounders and pollock among the sea kelp. Members might think that October is not the best time of year for snorkelling in Scotland, but I had a good wetsuit, the sun was out and, in autumn, the water is a wee bit warmer, as there is just a wee bit less melted snow flowing into the sea than there is earlier in the year.

Growing up on the west coast, on the shores of Loch Broom—where, I must add, there is a healthy population of flame shells—it was blatantly obvious that our lives and our livelihoods were inextricably linked to the sea. Good stewardship of that fragile ecosystem is vital for human survival in the north-west Highlands. Conservation, tourism, fishing and seafood are all critical elements of life, work and culture in the north-west. I invite all members to come and see the area for themselves.

17:27  

I thank Graeme Dey for hosting this important and popular debate. I am the proud champion of the hare and, in order to make the most of this brief parliamentary opportunity, I am going to speak almost as fast as the brown hare—Europe’s fastest land mammal—can run.

I want to cover what we need to do to ensure that the brown hare and the mountain hare have a future in Scotland. I also want to thank Scottish Environment LINK, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, OneKind and the League Against Cruel Sports, as well as the people—constituents and non-constituents—who have written to me on the subject.

The brown hare is listed as a vulnerable and declining species, and a UK biodiversity action plan has been written for it. The brown hare needs us to maintain a diverse range of habitats, particularly in intensive agricultural settings, so that it can fully exploit its natural anti-predator strategies of avoiding detection and having a means of escape. In 2014, experts from the Scottish Wildlife Trust and I headed to the wilds of Lothian, just a few miles west of the chamber, and were much obliged to the hare who appeared and allowed us to marvel at him or her. Those experts pointed out that simply letting the edges of fields grow wild would do much to help the species, as would reforming our agricultural subsidy system to better enable farmers to deliver maximum environmental benefits.

The introduction of a national ecological network for Scotland would provide greater connectivity and would help with the availability of habitat, food and cover for the brown hare and other species. Such a network would place the same importance on planning for green and blue infrastructure as is placed on planning for grey infrastructure at the moment. I ask the cabinet secretary to ensure that we have diverse habitats and a national ecological network, please, as well as action to end the barbaric sport of hare coursing.

I will now focus on the mountain hare, which is confined to Scotland and indigenous to Scotland. Large-scale culling of mountain hares is now routine on many of our upland sporting estates in the belief that it protects red grouse against the louping ill virus, which is spread by ticks—I say “belief” because there is no scientific evidence to back that up.

Constituents and non-constituents alike have raised concerns with me about the culling of mountain hares in Scotland. One constituent wrote:

“It’s most unfortunate for the white hare, that it and the red grouse can live together in such harmony in their beautiful environment, yet they are so far apart in the financial world”,

and said that

“the sad truth is this is a case of the persecution of one species in favour of another.”

I support the Scottish conservation bodies that are calling for a compulsory three-year moratorium on the culling of mountain hares on grouse moors. It seems clear that the voluntary restraint called for by Scottish Natural Heritage provides inadequate protection for mountain hares. Given the special status of our national parks and their importance for the mountain hare, I wonder whether the cabinet secretary would consider using her powers to introduce a nature conservation order to prohibit culls and driven hare hunts in those areas.

I invite all members of Parliament to join me on 17 November at a mass lobby here, which will seek an end to the culling of mountain hares.

17:30  

I will be honest and say that, when I first heard about the species champion programme, I asked for a fox. I was not allowed one as, I am told, they are not an endangered species. They are definitely in danger, though, which I hope we can highlight at a later date.

I am grateful to my colleague Graeme Dey for securing the debate and giving me the opportunity to speak about the species that I was very lucky to be given to champion: the hedgehog. This wonderful creature got its name because of its peculiar foraging habits. It roots through hedges and other undergrowth in search of its favourite food: small creatures such as insects, worms, centipedes, snails, mice, frogs and snakes. As it moves through the hedges, it emits pig-like grunts—thus the name hedgehog. It is the diet of the hedgehog, which includes many pests, that has led to its reputation as the gardener’s friend.

Hedgehogs are in dramatic decline—a quarter of the population has been lost in the past decade. There is no single reason for the decline in hedgehog numbers; it is likely to be a combination of several factors that together make life pretty difficult for them. There are environmental changes, such as the loss and fragmentation of habitat. There are fewer hedges, woodlands and wild areas than there used to be. We are now more likely to see a hedgehog in an urban garden than in the countryside, but even there their habitat is under threat as a result of the popularity of tidy, manicured spaces, decking and monoblock, and the fencing in of gardens.

There are a number of things that people can do to encourage hedgehogs to their gardens, including leaving areas of the garden wild or getting a hedgehog home. They can provide a little bit of food and water, make ponds safe for hedgehogs and avoid using slug pellets and other chemicals. A quick online search will give people full details about those things.

The hedgehog is nocturnal—it comes out at night and spends the day sleeping in a nest under bushes or in thick shrubs. If anyone sees a hedgehog during the day at this time of the year, it is likely to be a young one that has not had enough food yet to hibernate. In that situation, people should contact their local wildlife rescue centre, which will be able to help and advise.

I thank Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue in Beith for hosting my visit to its hedgehog hospital, and for giving me the opportunity to meet some of these amazing wee creatures and learn more about what we can all do to help. I hope that folk will consider some of the small steps that they can take in their gardens to help hedgehogs, and I look forward to playing my part as their species champion over the coming parliamentary session.

17:33  

I thank Graeme Dey for securing the debate and Scottish Environment LINK for inviting me to follow in the footsteps of former Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon and be species champion for the freshwater pearl mussel. Once again, I must declare an interest—this time in a stretch of the River Dee where we have carried out work over many years to protect what is one of the most critically endangered molluscs in the world. Half of those that remain are found in the north-west of Scotland and the Cairngorms.

Normally such a debate would allow me to go straight to the good works that are being done by so many people—but not today. Just this weekend, a pile of 100 freshwater pearl mussels were found dead at Lochinver in the Highlands. It is a protected species, so that is outrageous and nothing short of conservation vandalism. The law is very clear, so how does that continue to happen? We in Scotland have an obligation to do all that we can to protect the species from extinction.

Despite their name, freshwater pearl mussels only very occasionally bear a pearl. That results in overexploitation by pearl fishers and mass population decline. Over the past century, they have been lost from more than a third of our rivers. It was therefore great to hear in 2013 about the discovery of an unexploited population of 500,000 mussels in “River X”. That will become the benchmark for the rest of Europe. It speaks to the seriousness of the problem that we have to make sure that the river remains nameless in order to avoid its being targeted by pearl fishers. It is vital that, as we leave the European Union, we can tailor new protection laws for our mussels.

There is good work, too. Just the other week, with the pearls in peril project, I joined the River Dee Trust, SNH, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and many volunteers to plant trees at the Invercauld estate. Tree planting not only helps flood-risk river catchments but reduces pollution and silt pouring into the river, which in turn encourages a healthier population of mussels.

The situation for freshwater pearl mussels may be dire, but they are not extinct yet. If members could get together to help to prevent poaching and to protect their habitat, we would save that humble mollusc for our benefit. It is a native species, and so is something that we must all champion.

17:35  

I thank Graeme Dey for bringing the debate to the chamber and for his work in promoting the species champion initiative in this and the previous parliamentary session. I am pleased to be speaking in support of the bog sun-jumper spider and the species champion initiative as a whole.

Although the bog sun-jumper spider is just 3mm long, the importance of this tiny creature to my constituency cannot be overstated, so I thank Buglife for making me aware of its plight. As members might expect, the little beauty makes its home in the peat bogs that are a unique part of our natural heritage. I am proud to say that, of the five peat bogs where the spider can be found in Scotland, two are in my Falkirk East constituency.

In my role as the species champion for that spider, I had the chance a few weeks ago to visit a newly restored peat bog on the Slamannan plateau, which will serve as a site in which endangered peat-bog species such as the bog sun-jumper spider can live and thrive. Sadly, we did not manage to find any on the day that I visited, which might suggest that they are more endangered than we had originally thought, but I hope that there is a squad of them marching towards the Slamannan plateau as we speak.

It is opportune that the debate is being held on the same day as the ministerial statement on unconventional oil and gas, because originally there were concerns that exploitation of coal-bed methane in my constituency, particularly on Letham moss near Airth, where much of the activity was taking place and where the bog sun-jumper spider lives, was going to affect seriously the spider’s habitat. With coal-bed methane extraction suspended thanks to the moratorium on fracking, the little bog sun-jumper spider is being given a reprieve and the opportunity to go forth and multiply.

Preserving biodiversity through initiatives such as the species champion programme highlights the importance of protections for endangered species of all types, from little spiders to Ruth Maguire’s hedgehogs and Gail Ross’s red squirrels, which are found in a broad range of habitats across Scotland.

I do not have time to go into the benefits of peatland restoration, but the issue has been well rehearsed at the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee, and its predecessor Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment committee, which had a peatland restoration champion in its convener—the moss boss, himself: the well-respected retired MSP Rob Gibson.

The species champion initiative is a source of positive action for not just the sponsored species, but their habitats, the citizens of Scotland and even the broader global community. If members have not already done so, they should sign up for the species champion initiative at the Parliament event on Thursday.

I reassure you, Mr MacDonald, that the clock stopped and was restarted. You did in fact speak for longer than one and a half minutes.

I wondered.

17:38  

It is a privilege to be part of the debate. They say that every day is a school day, and today I have learned probably a great deal more than I needed to know about the slow worm. It is an important debate and I congratulate Graeme Dey.

Members might ask why somebody who represents Glasgow should be part of the initiative. Apart from the fact that I am the number 1 fan of “The Archers” in the Parliament and know more than anybody needs to know about the agricultural challenges that our farmers face, I spent my childhood going on holiday to the island of Tiree, understanding the importance of love of the land and the elements, and the importance of the way in which humans, the land and animals must work together. I have a great love of the bird of which I am a champion—the lapwing, or peewit.

I have to confess that I had a bit of a desire to be the champion for the corncrake, but not for the first time Mike Russell beat me to it. Many of the issues that are faced by the lapwing are the challenges that were faced by the corncrake, and perhaps they could have the same solutions. The experience of the corncrake should give us optimism that it is possible to manage the land in a way that values the animals that live upon it.

However, as with everything else, there is inequality. We all said “Aw” at the idea of the wee hedgehog, but we were not aw-ing at the slow worm. I must congratulate Bruce Crawford on championing a species that probably only its own mammy would love. However, it is important that we love all creatures and understand how they all play a part in enriching our world. I am a lot cheaper and more shallow than Bruce Crawford, and I am the champion for the lapwing.

However the poor lapwing has a champion who, I am sad to say, cannot match the words of the people here who have described all the wonderful things they have done as species champion, and who have succeeded in educating me and shaming me at the same time. I promise to do more in the future to talk about and be a champion on behalf of the lapwing.

“Lapwings are part of the plover family of wading birds and can be seen in the UK all year round. Also known as the peewit in imitation of its display calls, its proper name describes its wavering flight. They breed throughout Scotland with the highest concentrations in the Hebrides and Northern Isles, and in lowland agricultural areas of the south and east. In the winter, lapwings will tend to fly in loose bunched flocks with Scottish birds moving to lower ground and estuaries, some migrating to Ireland and even further to France or Portugal. Despite their migrations, they come back”

—amazingly—

“to the same fields to nest every year. Although widespread in Scotland, the number of lapwings declined by 59% between 1995 and 2013. In 2015, the lapwing was listed as ‘globally near threatened’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.”

There is plenty to do to highlight the importance of protecting the species. We need to know how we can work with the people who work the land to develop practices that do not threaten species, and to understand that there is a role for Government in ensuring that the conditions exist that mean that we do not lose these precious creatures. We know that farmers, crofters and landowners are very often willing to work with those who want to see species protected. The campaign is an important one because it affords the opportunity to talk to all our young people and to talk all across Scotland—urban and rural—about the fact that the things that we do have consequences for the future, and that these are things that actually matter, and that although we can have enjoyment when we talk about these things—

Come to a close, please.

This is a very important public awareness issue. I thank Graeme Dey again and look forward to continuing as species champion for the lapwing.

17:42  

I am delighted to speak today in support of my colleague Graeme Dey MSP’s motion on the species champion initiative. Furthermore, as a member of the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee, I am only too aware of the importance of raising public awareness of Scotland’s threatened wildlife.

I recently met with the Woodland Trust in my constituency. Across Mid Fife and Glenrothes, the trust owns two small sites at Largo and a larger site at Formonthills, just at the back of Glenrothes. In the late 1990s, 80,000 trees were planted at the Formonthills site with the help of the local community. Primary school pupils from across Glenrothes were involved in creating the drawings of wildlife and plants that follow the path way-markers around the site. The trees that were planted are all native species including oak, ash, birch, cherry and the tree for which I am the species champion, the rowan.

The rowan tree has long been a part of Scottish identity. It is a native tree that grows across the country and has a strong cultural association with folklore in Scotland. Historically it was believed that planting a rowan tree at the door of a house would protect those inside while keeping evil spirits at bay. I remember the croft where my granny was brought up in Muir of Ord and the rowan tree that stood at the foot of the path. Indeed, there is a rowan tree planted at the passholders’ entrance to Parliament—a tree that protects all MSPs, regardless of party-political affiliation or even voting intentions when it comes to referenda.

Members might be familiar with one of Scotland’s most famous regimental pieces of music—Lady Nairne’s early 19th-century piece entitled “Rowan Tree”. Presiding Officer, I am sure you will be delighted to hear that I will not be regaling the chamber this evening with a rendition. However, I would like to remind members from across the chamber of the former First Minister’s recording of the song, which can be viewed on YouTube at any time for fellow MSPs’ convenience.

In 2012, the Scottish Government set a target of 10,000 hectares of new tree planting every year until 2022, of which 4,500 hectares was assigned to be native woodlands. That target is yet to be achieved. The rowan is also threatened by overgrazing, so the Government needs to continue to promote sustainable deer management practices.

To conclude, the rowan tree is part of Scotland’s history, and a vital part of this Government’s commitment to tree planting. It brings us luck and it protects us from evil. I am proud to be its species champion.

17:45  

I thank Graeme Dey for bringing the debate to the chamber and I congratulate Scottish Environment LINK on successfully relaunching the species champion programme into the fifth session of Parliament.

At one level, the initiative is a great bit of fun, but it is also a deeply humbling thought that we are living through the sixth great extinction period in the planet’s history. At Holyrood, we think in terms of electoral and budget cycles and, on occasion, we dare to think intergenerationally, too. However, to see the true vision of the garden planet that we are trying to regenerate, we need to look further back to previous millennia.

I turn to the species that I am the champion for—the white-tailed eagle, or the sea eagle as it is sometimes known. One hundred years ago, the species was extinct in Scotland and across the British isles. Records that go back to the late 1800s show that sea and golden eagles were limited to just a few hundred pairs.

Ground-breaking work that was led by the late Richard Evans examined ancient cultural references to eagles across the British isles that emerged through place names of about 1,500 years ago. For example, he found 276 place names that referenced eagles in Scots Gaelic and 152 in Old English. That was combined with modern ecological knowledge to build up a picture that showed far greater numbers than had been previously imagined. There were up to 1,400 sea eagle pairs and 1,500 golden eagle pairs across these islands, and they were not just in the Highlands but as far as the south coast of England, with large overlapping territories between the two species. Richard Evans’s work was critical because it gave us a tantalising glimpse of the state of nature in previous millennia, and it mapped out landscapes where the habitat might still exist to support reintroduced eagles today.

The reintroduction of the white-tailed eagle has already had early success. The first pairs were reintroduced to Rum from Norway in 1975, and the first wild chick fledged on Mull in 1985. Further reintroductions were done across Wester Ross in the 1990s and for the first time on the east coast of Fife in 2007.

Those programmes thrive because of the support of conservationists, landowners, farmers and the police, as well as the many community groups, passionate volunteers, the RSPB and the Forestry Commission, and they are all oiled with lottery and European funding. We now have more than 100 breeding pairs in Scotland, and an SNH study earlier this year predicted a doubling of that number in the next 10 years. The success of such an iconic species now inspires thousands of people, with eagle tourism bringing about £5 million to Mull’s economy every year.

Getting back to the late 18th century population levels would be a welcome second step to recovery, but pressures remain. Poisoning and destruction of nest sites still happen in 21st century Scotland, often on or close to driven grouse moors. The game bird shooting sector needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror in the months to come. The petition that is on its way to the Parliament’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee highlights the disgrace of raptor persecution and the need to consider a licensing regime for game bird shooting.

There is much work to do to champion beleaguered species and we must celebrate success while keeping an eye on the progress that we need to ensure continued success.

17:48  

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate and I thank Graeme Dey for relaunching the initiative, which I hope that all MSPs will eventually sign up to. I also echo the thanks to Scottish Environment LINK, because it is fantastic to see such a good turnout for the debate and to hear all about the species that other members represent.

I have to say that the peewit, as described by Johann Lamont, has a special place in my heart, because it lies at the heart of my constituency in the Mearns and was written about so elegantly in “Sunset Song” by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. That is a special species to me.

The campaign is very important. There are so many species out there that need individual focus and promotion in the Parliament and among the wider public, because we must protect the natural habitats of the animals, plants and flowers that make up the incredible, diverse and unique environment that we have in Scotland.

It will take a lot of work to hold on to some of those species—probably none more so than the species for which I am champion: the hen harrier. Some members might have been exceptionally lucky to see a hen harrier, in which case they are in a privileged and tiny minority, but I imagine that most members have at least heard of the hen harrier, and chances are that what they have heard has not been positive.

The hen harrier is one of the most spectacular birds in Scotland. It is a beautiful, agile hunter, which is often referred to as a sky dancer because of its elegant and acrobatic flight. It is a medium-sized raptor that feeds on small mammals and birds, and it can be found in upland heather moorland during the breeding season and in lowland farmland in winter.

Hen harriers may be found across the UK, but over the past couple of decades they have become an increasingly rare sight. Between the previous two surveys to determine their numbers, in 2004 and 2010, the population was found to have fallen by 22 per cent, to 525 pairs. In the north-east of Scotland, where my constituency sits, the population peaked at 28 pairs in the 1990s, but in 2014 there was only one. The hen harrier is red listed; it is a UK bird of conservation concern.

What has caused such a significant decline? Predation of eggs and chicks, bad weather and food shortage contribute to unsuccessful breeding attempts, but one of the biggest threats is illegal persecution. The hen harrier is one of the most intensively persecuted raptors in the UK, and persecution has persisted even though it has been illegal since 1954.

What can we do now? We have to do what we can to protect endangered species that are particular to our country. That is why I support the RSPB’s life project, which is helping to protect hen harriers through satellite tagging, improved monitoring and nest protection.

In its manifesto, the Scottish National Party committed to accepting the recommendation of the wildlife crime penalties review group to introduce tough new maximum penalties for people who commit crimes against wildlife. The SNP also promised to set up a wildlife crime investigation unit in Police Scotland. I hope that that will have an impact.

The hen harrier is not the easiest species to champion. The work will not be easy, but I hope that we will start to see positive results.

17:52  

I thank Graeme Dey for bringing the debate to the Parliament. I have been fortunate—after hearing Bruce Crawford and Angus MacDonald, I think that I have been very fortunate—to be species champion for the curlew for the past three years. With the support of the RSPB, I have been able to visit sites in the north-east that have a connection with that emblematic species.

Everyone knows that the curlew is a bird of loch and shore, so the Loch of Strathbeg in Buchan was an obvious destination. I recommend a visit to anyone who has not yet been; they will see a huge number and variety of bird species, of which the curlew is only one. The RSPB recently completed a £60,000 refurbishment of the Loch of Strathbeg visitor centre, which will enable it to host many more volunteers each year and provide an even better experience for tourists and wildlife enthusiasts.

Less well known to city dwellers, perhaps, is that the curlew breeds on high moors and farmland, where it is equally a defining species. I saw that for myself at Corgarff, in Strathdon, not long ago, where I also saw the work of the RSPB to protect and encourage breeding curlews and their chicks.

All that really matters for the future of the species. Like a number of the species that we have heard about this evening, the curlew has red status on the list of birds of conservation concern, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies it as near-threatened.

Britain as a whole is the third most important country in the world for breeding curlew populations, with between one in four and one in six of the global population. Around half the UK’s breeding population is here in Scotland—about 36,000 breeding pairs. That might sound like a large number of birds in comparison with some of the numbers that we have heard in the debate, but it is a significant reduction from the numbers in the past, which is why the threat has been well identified.

As with so many other native spaces—we heard this from Alison Johnstone about the hare, as well as from other members about other bird species—changes in farming practices have reduced the curlew’s breeding success rate, while the number of predators that take eggs and chicks in the breeding season has increased. Curlew numbers have also been affected by changes not just in the breeding grounds inland and uphill, but in the wintering grounds on and near the coast.

Farmers who have adjusted their farming practices to encourage the curlew to breed on their land should themselves be encouraged. As has been mentioned, big decisions on how we support agriculture in future are imminent. Those adjustments should be taken very much into consideration. Other practices, such as new forestry and whether it is designed to protect breeding grounds in upland areas, should also be considered.

There is a job of work to be done for the curlew, as there is for other species. I very much welcome the efforts that have gone into making the debate happen, and I look forward to work in the area continuing.

17:55  

I congratulate Graeme Dey on securing the debate. I am pleased to state that this is my second year as species champion for the house sparrow, or speug. I am doing my bit for them, because my garden is bursting with speugs from dawn to dusk. They live in my neighbour’s holly tree, which I call Speug Towers. They commute to the many feeding stations that I have, living the high life on fat balls, seeds and mealworms. They then visit my neighbour’s birdbath and have a bit of a dip before they move on to my weeping birch for a little bit of a preen and then fly back to Speug Towers.

On occasion, they are confronted by a gang of marauding thrushes, but they simply bide their time and then resume their own quarrelsome feeding. When I walk down the garden to refill the feeders, they tweet to all and sundry that food is on the way. That probably alerts the thrushes.

The speugs provide Mr Smokey, my rescue cat, with hours of tormented pleasure as he eyes them up through glass walls, with chattering teeth. They remind me of a poem by Norman MacCaig called—funnily enough—“Sparrow”:

“He’s no artist.
His taste in clothes is more
dowdy than gaudy.
And his nest—that blackbird, writing
pretty scrolls on the air with the gold nib of his beak,
would call it a slum.

To stalk solitary on lawns,
to sing solitary in midnight trees,
to glide solitary over gray Atlantics—
not for him: he’d rather
a punch-up in a gutter.

He carries what learning he has
lightly—it is in fact, based only
on the usefulness whose result
is survival. A proletarian bird.
No scholar.

But when winter soft-shoes in
and these other birds—
ballet dancers, musicians, architects—
die the snow
and freeze to branches,
watch him happily flying
on the O-levels and A-levels
of the air.”

I say, three cheers for the humble speug: he survives.

17:57  

As you know, Presiding Officer, I always listen very carefully to Roseanna Cunningham’s winding-up speeches. Tonight will be no exception, especially as she is going to have to deal with the sex life of the slow worm, as described by Bruce Crawford. I saw the civil servants passing down notes to her on the subject: they took 45 minutes to arrive on the front bench. We will listen carefully to her detailed interpretation of that activity.

I congratulate Graeme Dey on securing the debate. He mentioned the fluffy orca. If anyone ever meets a real killer whale, they would want it to be fluffy. In August, some of our wild swimmers in Shetland were swimming around Lerwick harbour when they had a very close encounter with a pod of killer whales—or orcas—that had been swimming around the Shetland coastline during most of the summer. From the description of that encounter, one would not wish to get too close, particularly given that swimmers look just like seals to a pod of orcas.

There is method in my madness in relation to my reference to the fluffy orca. I am running a competition with all our primary schools in the Shetland Islands to name the orca, because of the importance of sightings. That promotional work is the point of much of the work that we do as species champions. The future of the orca lies in understanding their patterns of behaviour. Schools can play a hugely important role in achieving that understanding by providing documentary evidence on where they are, their direction of travel and how they are moving.

My colleagues had a name for the orca, too. John Thurso, who is now the chairman of VisitScotland, had a problem with wild salmon being eaten by seals at the head of a river. He did what any person would have done in the circumstances: he bought a 20-foot inflatable orca and moored it at the head of the river to scare off the seals, which it did. He thought that he had better give it a name, and I am told that he called it “my orca”—which makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

I thank Sarah Dolman of Whale and Dolphin Conservation for all her help. I also thank Hugh Harrop at Shetland Wildlife and the 5,727—and rising—members of the Shetland orca sightings group for all the work that they have done, particularly on Facebook and on social media. Their posts on those sites have been astronomical this summer, although they have been slightly held back by the fact that, around the coast of Shetland, there is no wi-fi or 3G—there is no 1G, let alone 3G—and the postings take a while.

Nevertheless, there is huge interest in the orca, which is a fantastic species and a wonderful mammal. I whole-heartedly agree with colleagues that people should get involved in the programme because of the work that can be done to highlight the serious issues around nature conservation and the marine environment, which Mark Ruskell highlighted, but also for the fun that we can pass on to the next generation. More than in any species, that can be seen in the humble orca.

That concludes the open debate. I have really enjoyed all the speeches. I have been sitting here, trying to imagine the characteristics that you all share with your championed species. Some day, I might tell you what I have come up with.

18:01  

I congratulate Graeme Dey on securing the debate and thank all members for their contributions. It has been good to focus on the wonderful diversity of species that we have in Scotland and to hear the enthusiasm and commitment of members who have spoken in the debate.

I welcome the relaunch of the species champions initiative by Scottish Environment LINK. It was a very successful initiative during the previous session of Parliament—indeed, I understand that it was nominated for several awards and has inspired similar programmes in Wales, Northern Ireland and England. It is yet another example of our forward-thinking approach in Scotland.

As the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, I am in the privileged position of being a champion for all the species. I do not intend that to be a flippant remark—the challenge of protecting and enhancing Scotland’s biodiversity is important, which is why we are fully committed to working with partners to deliver the Scottish biodiversity strategy and the accompanying route map to 2020. The route map has work under way or planned for the conservation and management of many individual species, including the Scottish wildcat, the red squirrel, the great yellow bumblebee—David Stewart will be pleased to hear that—and the rare lichens that prefer Scotland’s west-coast woodlands.

I am delighted to see that we have almost 60 species champions already, but as Graeme Dey pointed out, that means that the majority of MSPs are not involved. I encourage members who are not currently a species champion to find out about the wonderful and, at times, fragile species in their constituencies and to see what they can do to champion biodiversity. As Johann Lamont suggested, there is often a temptation to seek out the cute and the cuddly species, but the wonderful thing about nature is its diversity. I therefore hope that someone will adopt the tadpole shrimp or learn to love the pond mud snail just as Bruce Crawford has clearly learned to love the slow worm—although his description of its having a forked tongue and being legless led me to think that he had strayed into a description of some of his parliamentary colleagues.

Other colleagues were more circumspect in their descriptions, but it is fair to say that we are all better informed about a number of species than we were at 5 pm—in fact, we may know of the existence of more species than we did at 5 pm. It is also fair to say that some species champions face bigger presentational challenges than others. Nevertheless, I look forward to—and could likely sell tickets for—the forthcoming attraction “Dances with Orcas” starring Tavish Scott, albeit perhaps only briefly.

As some members may be aware, at the end of September Scottish Natural Heritage published a report showing progress across the first full year of activity on the route map. The report shows that almost 80 per cent of the listed actions are on track to achieve or exceed their targets by 2020. However, that means that we also have a clear indication of where attention needs to be focused to ensure that progress is made across all the actions.

The importance of that activity is twofold. First, it is important that we strive to meet our international obligations. Secondly, we must ensure that Scotland’s wonderful biodiversity, including all our fascinating species and habitats, is protected and continues to flourish now and for future generations.

It is good to focus on individual species, so I am grateful to Scottish Environment LINK for raising awareness and providing the impetus through the species champions initiative. However, as a number of members have said, we need to be mindful of the fact that species do not thrive in isolation: they need habitats in which to live, and there are many interactions and dependencies between species. That aspect of the discussion was highlighted by Ruth Maguire—or, as we may now refer to her, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.

We recognise the importance of the wider and more holistic approach that embraces the whole ecosystem. Much of the work that is under way to deliver against the route map targets is focused at landscape scale, so that the wider ecosystem will be restored or enhanced, thereby delivering a range of other benefits. Just for Angus MacDonald, I will mention the example of our peatland restoration programme. More than 10,000 hectares of peatland have been restored in Scotland since 2012 through the Scottish Natural Heritage led peatland action initiative. As well as providing habitat and space for individual species to thrive, those restored peatlands sequester carbon, improve water storage and provide benefits for the local communities.

I urge all members not just to think of species in terms of the individual bird, animal, insect or plant, but to think more broadly about how protecting and enhancing our biodiversity can benefit a wide range of policy outcomes, including for people. Most important is that healthy species and habitats make for healthy people’s health and wellbeing. For that reason, I am delighted to see that the relaunched species champions initiative has a new focus on urban species. An exemplar of how investing in an improved natural environment benefits species and habitats, and also improves the health, wellbeing and economic opportunities of the local communities is the central Scotland green network, which many members will be very familiar with. It is Europe’s largest green-space project, and it covers pretty much the whole central belt.

Today’s debate has raised awareness of some of our important species and of the Scottish Environment LINK initiative. My closing remarks could hardly do justice to all the members who have proudly told us of the various species that they now champion, some of which they might not have heard of before they were allocated the said species. I hope that the debate has prompted us all to take further action to enhance biodiversity right across Scotland.

Meeting closed at 18:07.