The curlew is now considered the most pressing bird conservation priority in the UK, and the relevance of this to your statement will become evident. The 'State of birds in Wales 2018' partnership report shows that losses of curlew have been more acute than in the rest of the UK, with more than three quarters of the Welsh curlew population disappearing over the last 25 years and no hint of this trend levelling out. And Gylfinir Cymru, the curlew Wales partnership, has heard that agri-environment schemes for the curlew, although operating for 40 years, clearly haven’t worked for this species.

Yesterday, I attended the curlew summit at No. 10 Downing Street, alongside: Lewis Macdonald MSP—one of your Labour colleagues—species champion for the curlew in the Scottish Parliament; Jake Berry MP, species champion for the curlew in Westminster; and the lead specialist adviser for ornithology in Natural Resources Wales—you may have been aware he attended. We heard that sufficient resource will be required to advise, encourage and assist groups of farmers to come together to deliver, monitor and champion curlew and biodiversity across landscapes, and that there’s a need to understand the multiple and multispecies benefits from an ecosystem resilience and a cultural and natural heritage perspective that can be delivered through curlew conservation action.

So, how do you respond to the following relevant points to your statement made at this large round-table and cross-party meeting: that we’re at a critical time for the curlew, and perhaps have only 15 years left; that we should all be involved in co-designing a scheme with tests and trials; that we need a needs-based mechanism for farm payments; a smart-based and measurable approach; and that we need co-ordination of actions working at scale and together including statutory agencies and across the UK? And I emphasise the critical importance that the Welsh and Scottish Governments be invited to become involved fully at the first moment that DEFRA or an UK agency is brought into this.

And I conclude by quoting environmentalist and Curlew Moon author Mary Colwell, who was present, who said, 'It's so shocking that Wales may truly have only 15 years left of the haunting call of the curlew—heartbreaking.' It is heartbreaking. We can do something about it, but it isn't only about the curlew, it's about the farm support plans that follow and the multiple both food production and species benefits that can follow. How would you respond to those points made?