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Mr. Kilroy-Silk
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his estimate of the number of herons; and whether their number is declining.
Mr. Ancram
The Nature Conservancy Council's most recent survey of the heron population in 1979 established that there were 1,500 pairs in Scotland. There is no evidence that their number is declining, but I understand that this year the British Trust for Ornithology is to conduct a national survey of the heronries of Britain and Northern Ireland.