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Mr. Pike
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for what species of wildfowl and wading birds the Mersey estuary is (a) nationally important and (b) internationally important.
Mr. Maclean
The Mersey estuary is internationally important for its wintering population of Teal, Pintail, Shelduck, Redshank and Dunlin, and nationally important for its wintering populations of Grey Plover, Wigeon and Curlew.Proportions of relevant international and national populations of waterfowl are as follows (figures are for the five year peak mean, for the period 1986–87 to 1990–91):
| Species | Winter peak mean | Percentage of international population | Percentage of British population |
| Teal | 10,679 | 2.6 | 10.6 |
| Grey Plover | 710 | 0.4 | 3.3 |
| Wigeon | 6,644 | 0.8 | 2.6 |
| Pintail | 5,907 | 8.4 | 23.6 |
| Curlew | 1,443 | 0.4 | 1.5 |
| Redshank | 3,824 | 3.5 | 5.0 |
| Shelduck | 3,392 | 1.3 | 4.5 |
| Dunlin | 23,928 | 1.7 | 5.5 |