 The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion number 1734 in the name of Graham Day on species champions initiative relaunch. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put. Would those members who wish to speak in the debate please repress their request-to-speak buttons as soon as possible? I call on Graham Day to open the debate. I thank members from across the chamber, indeed from all five parties, for supporting this motion celebrating the relaunch of Scottish Environment Link species champion initiative. I also welcome Eleanor Harris and Daphne Blastari from Scottish Environment Link to the Visitors Gallery. I am delighted to advise the chamber that there are now 57 of us who have taken on the role of species champions. Participating in the programme that asks MSPs to lend political support to the protection of Scotland's threatened wildlife, working alongside 15 different organisations through Scottish Environment Link. That figure falls some way short of that achieved in the last Parliament when the initiative was launched. Given that we are just six months into the current Parliament, and retirels robbed us of stalwarts such as Rob Gibson, Jamie MacGregor and Mary Scanlon, it is fair to say that we are well on course to better the total of 76 species champions previously. 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, like myself, serve on the Environment Committee, to provide leadership in this area. I would extend an invitation to colleagues who have not yet signed up to come along to the introduction event that I am hosting here on Thursday lunchtime and make the commitment, because the Scottish Environment Link is hoping to have more than 100 champions in this Parliament, and I offer fair warning to the remaining 72 members that they are persistent. It is good to see once again that MSPs from urban and rural areas participate because nature, as with the threats to its variety, is not restricted to the countryside. Although we have some wonderful countryside in my constituency and wider Scotland, there is wildlife and natural environment in our towns and cities as well. It has been great seeing MSPs diving right into their new roles, with Marie Todd doing that quite literally, trying out Scotland's new snorkel trail with the Scottish Wildlife Trust in order to learn more about flame shells. I know also that Ruth Maguire and Angus MacDonald have gotten up close and personal with their species, but I do have to say gently to Tavish Scott, the orca champion, that being filmed holding a toy replica even at the waterside really does not count. I became the species champion myself for the wooly willow in 2013, and this role has taken me to the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, Corrie Fee and Glendoll in my constituency, and the Ben Law's Nature Reserve to learn more about the challenges that have to be overcome if we are to restore the damage done to it by overgrazing and climate change. Those visits helped inform a newsletter that I sent all around the primary schools in my area, which I hoped would prompt her to at least help inform nature projects taking place there. Just to prove that I was listening when I was out and about, let me tell you a wee bit about the wooly willow, which is a low shrub with wooly grey-green leaves, now restricted to ungrazed areas at high altitude. In all non-arid mountain systems, monte and scrub, consisting of species like the wooly willow, is an important habitat above the tree line. monte and scrub supports a range of unusual plants and invertebrates, and it is an important foraging area for birds and mammals. In Scotland, this habitat is now virtually absent due to historic grazing by red deer and sheep. Wooly willow formally occurred in the scrub zone at the upper limit of forests on those mountains with the richest soil, however it has more recently become largely restricted to quiffs, with mountain hares now getting in on the grazing act thanks to reduced snowlines, courtesy of climate change. Nearly all its present localities are in the central highlands. Only four of its 13 remaining populations have more than 100 plants. The total estimated all across Scotland is around 1,800 plants. That is why it is on the endangered list, along with so many other species, and why environment link needs MSPs to help to raise awareness of the situation. The site of nature report Scotland, which was published in September and detailed work from a number of environmental organisations, revealed that in Scotland, despite undisputed progress being made, a majority of areas covered by the biodiversity route map to 2020, over half of the plant and bird species are declining. A great deal more is required to be done by all of us, not least of all we species champion. With your agreement, I will conclude there, because whilst in the normal course of events during a member's debate, I would happily take up my allocated time. In this instance, I think that my role is more of a scene setter than being sent at a stage. I know that there are a considerable number of colleagues seeking the opportunity to highlight their allotted species, the challenges that they face and what actions we, as MSPs, intend to take to make constituents much more aware and mindful of the threats that are posed by biodiversity. Thank you, Mr Day. You are stealing the words from my script. Yes, indeed, there are a load of members who want to speak in the debate. I am minded to accept a motion without notice, under rule 8.14.3, to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes. Can I ask you, Mr Day, to move a motion without notice? Do members agree to extend the debate this evening? Good. I hope that members will all stick to three minutes each, because it is the only way that we will manage to get all the species mentioned and everyone into the debate. First of all, I will call on Bruce Crawford to be followed—I am going so quickly, I am getting my words mixed up—to be followed by Maurice Golden. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I want to start by sincerely thanking and congratulating my friend, Graham Day, on securing this debate this evening. The number of MSPs who are taking part demonstrates well the pride that we are all taking in being species champions. I also want to thank the Scottish Environment Link, who has done such a fantastic job in encouraging MSPs to adopt and promote a species. Today, I can proclaim myself to be the proud slow worm champion. Now, in all truth, since today I was first elected in 1988, I never imagined that in almost 30 years of Sundays I would ever utter such words. However, I have a job to do on behalf of the slow worm. The first thing that I want to clear up is the fact that it is not a slow worm at all. Actually, it is not a worm and neither is it a snake, but it is a fantastic reptile. The slow worm, although superficially a snake, is a legless lizard. It can grow up to—I am glad that I brought a laugh to the minister in the front there—40 centimetres long and can live for up to 50 years. Unlike snakes, they can blink. They have a flat forked tongue, and very cleverly they can lose their tails of attack. Slow worms are one of our most threatened species. Whilst they do not be the cutest of animals, they are very striking, with males usually being grey or brown in colour, some with bright blue spots, female's bronze or gold-coloured, and juveniles having dark flanks and often a stripe down the back. I brought along a picture of a particularly handsome slow worm for all to see this evening. I think that you will agree with me that it is a particularly enhanced variety. It may surprise some to hear by looking at this picture that the slow worm is somewhat of a Casanova. Yes, it is true. Courtship and the slow worm's world can often last as long as 10 hours before copulation occurs. I never might live those dreams, did I? I have had some wild dreams, I can tell you. I thought that I would be standing in this chamber today talking about the sex life of a reptile, on a completely unrelated matter of no idea why I was chosen to be their champion. As a gardener, I am very pleased that we have slow worms in some of Scotland's gardens, but unfortunately not enough. Known as the gardener's friend, they spend the majority of their time in deep vegetation and in humid underground, overgrown areas, rough grass, woodland edges, scrubs, gardens, allotments, railway embankments. Best of all, they eat lots and lots of slugs and other garden's pests. No wonder that they are called the gardener's friend. Seriousness, the work of Scottish Environment Link and, in my case, frog life is doing a fantastic and invaluable job in promoting species. That is my three minutes. Maurice Golden, followed by Gail Ross. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. It is an honour and a privilege to participate in this debate. I would like to recognise the contribution of the Woodlands Trust in this area, as well as Lorna Scott from the RSPB, who Graham missed out when he was mentioning those from Scottish Environment Link as well. Thanks to everyone who has made this 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 only found naturally on the Isle of Arran, and it is believed that the Arran Whitebeam has been a feature of Arran Woodlands since around 4,500 BC. However, all the Arran Whitebeams are under threat. In 2004, SNH, the Scottish Natural Heritage Report, stated that there were only 857 Arran Whitebeams left on the island, and it is believed that there is only a handful of catagol whitebeams growing naturally on Arran, making it one of the rarest trees in the world. The small size of the population leaves it incredibly vulnerable to extinction, and 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 would be to increase surrounding woodland cover in order to enable the whitebeams to be capable of reproducing, which Bruce Crawford and I seem to be on a bit of a line with respect to that. However, SNH is currently working with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and the local dugary estate to protect the trees. In order to ensure the long-term survival of the trees, the Botanic Gardens are growing saplings in their nurseries, and they have recently planted examples of the trees outside the Scottish Parliament. In Arran itself, enclosures have been established to protect the trees from overgrazing, and the conditions of the trees have been regularly monitored. The whitebeams species are not only very rare, but they represent some of the very few tree species that are unique to Scotland, and therefore are a hugely important part of our natural heritage. They also provide an invaluable insight into the evolution of trees and species diversification. Their study offers an incredible, important contribution to scientific research. Therefore, protection and promotion of these trees is something that I will commit to and believe is enormously important. Gail Ross, to be followed by Dave Stewart. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am delighted to be the species champion for the red squirrel. The red squirrel is the UK's only native squirrel, and numbers have declined rapidly since the introduction of grey squirrels from North America in the 19th century. Grey squirrels have replaced the native reds in much of the UK because they compete for food and habitat and transmit the deadly squirrelpox virus. Action to protect the reds from the grey squirrels through population control is therefore necessary. Saving Scotland's red squirrel aims to sustain populations of reds across their current red-only range, north of the grey squirrel distribution, in the central lowlands and in key areas of South Scotland. Project partners are the Scottish Wildlife Trust, SNH, Forest Recommission Scotland, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Land and Estates and the Red Squirrel Survival Trust. In my constituency, 40 red squirrels were released at Dundonal Estate. Some managed to migrate towards Ulipill, and at the end of 2015, they were being seen around the cottages three miles south of Ulipill, but sadly, some are being killed on the roads. In light of that, Bear Scotland was approached to see if any squirrel signs could be erected. Bear said that they were considering putting up signs, but there was a consultation process, and that went on for months. The community decided to take matters into their own hands and put up two signs on either side of Lecmiam gardens, but one of those was on a council road sign, and Bear came and took it away. As you can imagine, that upset the locals and especially the children, so they decided to make their own signs, which got great publicity in the press and on social media, and that resulted in the transport minister at the time intervening and signs were eventually put up. As a lot of the traffic comes from the Stornoway ferry, they also approached CalMac, who allowed the kids to come on board, meet the captain and put up signs warning the ferry traffic to drive carefully when they saw them. That has had a positive effect, as we did see more babies this year, but sadly, in the last few weeks, six again have been reported dead on the roads, but there may be more as they often get driven over and destroyed before identified or reported. I have supported appeals to Bear in Transport Scotland, and we are awaiting a meeting with some of the staff to look at putting up a road bridge to see if the squirrels will use that. The hope is that that will minimise fatalities at Lekmelm and can perhaps be tried in other areas on the roads around Ullipill as the squirrel numbers rise. Bear, Transport Scotland and Mr Yousaf, if you are listening, please help us and all the other volunteers that are so committed to the project to help us to save our squirrels. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I congratulate Graham Day on securing this debate today, which of course has widespread interest across the chamber in one of the most interesting debates that we have had so far. I also thank Scotland for its initiative in 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, Presiding Officer, but a species champion badge is much better, as far as I am concerned. I would like to talk about the species eye champion, which is the great yellow bumble bee, which can be found on the north coast of Scotland and some of our islands. Their breeding cycle is relatively short, probably an adaptation to the very brief Hanson Island summers, which I can experience firsthand. They nest underground often interestingly in the old barrows of small mammals. Those bumble bees are, in fact, the UK's rarest and declined by more than 80 per cent in the last century. That is largely due to the loss of flour-rich meadows and the intensification of farming and grazing practices. They only really survive in the Hanson Island region that we represent, where we have flour-rich maca and traditional crofting practices where they are still maintained. Geographically, they are found in the Western Isles, in Orkney, in the Inner Hebrides, and the mainland population is in Caithness and Sunland. Agriculture intensification has drastically changed their landscape, taking away the three key main requirements for their survival, which are nesting sites, a pollen supply throughout the season and a suitable place to hibernate during the long winters. Any action to protect them against further depletion, for example from heavy summer grazing, addition of harmful fertilisers, adoption of monocultures or abandonment of rotation of maca cropping is also likely to benefit a range of other insect species. Thurzo was privileged to receive a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund last year to create a fantastic project called Thurzo Gateway to the Great Yellow, which I had the great privilege of visiting last year. It created the first yellow bumble bee town, which includes education, outreach and wide-ranging practical measures to help the preservation of the dwindling species. That has been a great boost for local biodiversity, not just for the Great Yellow but for the many pollinators in the area who have been struggling due to the reduction in wildflowers but for the use of pesticides, leonica and tinoids, which are known to be destructive to them. Many organisations are already taking steps to work together for the Great Yellow bumble bee. The bumble bee conservation trust has been monitoring the species and working in habitat management and has received funding from the Scottish National Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund for a dedicated bee conservation officer for Scotland. The species action framework programme has also trained up many volunteers who are supporting the species and organisations that are managing the sites within the bee's distribution range to help to encourage them. I am conscious at time of short, Presiding Officer, and I merely say that I think that this is an excellent initiative and I would certainly want to encourage many of my members in this side of the chamber who are not species champions to become that over the next session. Thank you. Mary Todd, to be followed by Alison Johnstone. Thank you Presiding Officer and thank you to Scotland 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 the two shells. It may look like it belongs in tropical seas but it lives off the west coast of Scotland and it is a vital component of the marine ecosystem there. What is so special about the flame shell? Very few of us will ever see it in its natural habitat. It lives almost completely hidden on the seabed inside nests but up from shells and stones and other materials. Those flame shell reefs are great hunting grounds for juvenile cod and haddock and offer good attachment for scallop spat. Protecting those flame shell beds helps to protect hundreds of other species and supports important nursery and feeding areas for commercial species. Conservation of the flame shell beds and the priority marine features therefore makes commercial as well as ecological sense. Because the flame shells are recognised as such an important habitat forming species, the new NPAs protect them from trawling and dredging. NPAs have been largely welcomed in my community but we recognise the need to have marine monitoring strategy to make sure that the protection is working and to demonstrate the wider benefits. As Graham said during the October recess, I visited Clachtall in Sutherland to try out Scotland's first snorkel trail. The Scottish wildlife trust has put together very welcome guidance to help visitors to explore our coastline, which is absolutely 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 did see plenty of crabs and flounders and pollock amongst the sea kelp. You all might think that October is not the best time of year for snorkeling in Scotland but I had a good wetsuit, the sun was out and in autumn the water is a wee bit warmer, there's a wee bit less melted snow flowing into the seas than earlier in the year. Having grown up on the west coast on the shores of Loch Brun, where I have to 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 this fragile ecosystem is vital for human survival in the northwest islands. Conservation, tourism, fishing and seafood are all critical elements of life, work and culture in the northwest. I invite all of you members to come and see it for yourselves. I'd like to thank and congratulate Graham Day for hosting this important and very popular debate. I'm proud champion of the hare and I'm going to speak almost as quickly as the brown hare runs. It's Europe's fastest land mammal in order to make the most of this brief parliamentary opportunity. I'd like to cover what we need to do to ensure that both the brown hare and the mountain hare have a future in Scotland and I'd also like to thank Scottish Environment Link, Scottish Wildlife Trust, One Kind and the League Against Cruel Sports and constituents and non-constituents who have written to me on the subject. The brown hare is listed as a vulnerable and declining species for which a UK biodiversity action plan has been written. The brown hare needs us to maintain a diverse range of habitats, particularly in intensive agricultural settings, so that they can fully exploit their natural anti-predator strategies of avoiding detection or having a means of escape. In 2014, experts from Scottish Wildlife Trust and I headed to the Wilds of Lothian, just a few miles west of this chamber, and we were much obliged to the hare who appeared and allowed us to marvel at him or her. Those experts that I was with pointed out that simply by letting the edges of the farmers' fields that we were nearby grow wild would do so much to help this 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 availability of habitat, food and cover for the brown hare and other species, and such a network would place the same importance on planning for green and blue infrastructure, as is done when planning for grey infrastructure at the moment. Diverse habitats and a national ecological network, please, cabinet secretary, and action to end the barbaric sport of hair coursing. Now, to focus on the mountain hare, confined to Scotland and indigenous to Scotland, large-scale culling of mountain hares is now routine on many upland sporting estates in the belief that it protects red grouse against louping ill virus spread by ticks. I say belief because there is no scientific evidence to back this up. Constituents and non-constituents alike have raised concerns with me about the culling of mountain hares. One constituent writes, It is most unfortunate for the white hare that it and the red grouse can live together in such harmony in their beautiful natural environment, yet they are so far apart in the financial world, and that the sad truth is that this is a case of the persecution of one species in favour of another. I support those Scottish conservation bodies who call for a compulsory three-year moratorium on the culling of mountain hares on grouse mures. It seems clear that the call for voluntary restraint by Scottish natural heritage provides inadequate protection for mountain hares. Given the special status of our national parks and their importance for mountain hare, I wonder if the cabinet secretary would consider using her powers to introduce a nature conservation order to prohibit culls and driven hare hunts in those areas. In closing, I invite all members of Parliament to join me at the mass lobby here on 17 November, which seeks an end to the culling of mountain hares. Ruth Maguire, to be followed by Alexander Burnett. 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 that they are not an endangered species. They are definitely endangered, and that is something that I hope we get to highlight at a later date in the chamber. However, today I am really grateful to my colleague Graham Day for bringing this 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. They route through hedges and other undergrowth in search of their favourite food—small creatures, insects, worms, centipedes, snails, mice, frogs and snakes. As it moves through the hedge, it emits pig-like grunts—thus the name hedgehog. It is the diet of a hedgehog that is claimed at the reputation as being the gardener's friend as it includes so many pests in its diet. Hedgehogs are in dramatic decline, with a quarter of the population lost in the last decade. There is no single reason for the decline in hedgehog numbers. It is likely to be a combination of several factors, which together makes life pretty difficult for them. Environmental changes are the loss of habitat, fragmentation of habitat, fewer hedges, woodlands and wild areas than there used to be. You are more likely to see a hedgehog in an urban garden now than in the countryside, but even there their habitat is under threat, with very tidy, manicured spaces, decking and monoblock being so popular and gardens being offenced in. There are a number of things that people can do to encourage hedgehogs into their garden, including leaving areas of the garden wild, perhaps getting a hedgehog home, providing a little bit of food and water, making ponds safe for them and avoiding using slug pellets and other chemicals. A quick online search will give you full details on those things. The hedgehog is nocturnal coming out at night and spending the day sleeping in a nest under bushes or in thick shrubs, so, if you see a hedgehog during the day at this time of year, it is likely a young one who has not had enough food yet to hibernate. In this situation, please contact your local wildlife centre who will be able to help and advise. I would like to finish by thanking Hessellhead Wildlife Sanctuary in Beath for hosting me to visit their hedgehog hospital and giving me the opportunity to meet some of these amazing wee creatures and learn 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 own gardens to help hedgehogs, and I look forward to playing my part as their species champion over the coming parliamentary term. Alexander Burnett, followed by Angus MacDonald. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I start by thanking Graham Day for bringing Mr Bate and Link for inviting me to be species champion for the fresh water pearl mussel and following the footsteps of a former Conservative MSP, Mary Scanlon. Once again, I must declare an interest, this time in a stretch of a river d, where we have carried out work over many years to protect what is one of the most critically endangered mollocks in the world, with half of those remaining being found in the north-west of Scotland and the Cairngorms. Normally, such a debate would allow me to go straight to the good works being done by so many people, but not today. Just this weekend, a pile of 100 fresh water pearl mussels were found dead at Llekinmar in the Highlands. As a protected species, this is outrageous and nothing short of conservation vandalism. The law is very clear, so how does this continue to happen? We in Scotland have an obligation to do all that we can to protect the species from extinction. Despite their name, fresh water pearl mussels will only very occasionally bear a pearl, and that results in overexploitation by pearlfishers and has resulted in a mass population decline, and over the past century, they have been lost from over a third of our rivers. So it was therefore great to hear in 2013 the discovery of an unexploited population of half a million mussels in river X, and this will become the benchmark for the rest of Europe. It speaks to the seriousness of the problem that we have to make sure that this river remains nameless to avoid it being targeted by pearlfishers, and it is now vital that, as we leave the European Union, we can tailor new protection laws for our mussels. But there is good work, too, and just the other week, with pearls in peril project, I joined the River Dee trust, SNH, and the Cairngorms National Park Authority, along with many volunteers to plant trees at the Immacold estate. Now, not only does tree planting help flood risk catchment areas, but it also reduces pollution and silk pouring into the river and, in turn, a healthier population of mussels. The situation for freshwater pearl mussels may be dire, but they are not extinct yet. If the chamber could get together to help to prevent poaching and protect their habitat, we would save this humble mollusk for all our benefit. As our native species, that is something that we must all champion. Thank you. Angus MacDonald, to be followed by Johann Lamont. Thank you, Presiding Officer. First, I thank Graeme Day for bringing this debate to the chamber and for his work in promoting the species champion initiative in both this and the previous parliamentary sessions. I am pleased to be speaking in support of the bog sun jumper spider and the species champion initiative as a whole. It is just three millimetres long. The importance of this tiny creature to my constituency cannot be overstated. I thank bug life for making me aware of the plight of this little beauty. The bog sun jumper spider makes its home in, as you might expect, the peat bogs that are a unique part of our natural heritage. I am quite proud to say that of the five peat bogs where the spider can be found in Scotland, two of those are in my Falkirk East constituency. In my role as the species champion for the spider, I recently had the chance a few weeks ago to visit a newly restored peat bog on the Slamanan Plateau, which will serve as a site for endangered peat bog species, like the bog sun jumper spider, to live and thrive. Sadly, we did not manage to find any on the day I visited, which might suggest that they are more endangered than we had originally thought, but hopefully there is a squad of them marching towards the Slamanan Plateau as we speak. It is quite opportun that this debate has been held on the same day as the ministerial statement on unconventional oil and gas, as there were originally concerns at exploitation of co-bed methane in my constituency, particularly on the lesser moss near earth, where much of the activity was taking place and where the bog sun jumper spider lives was going to seriously affect the spider's habitat. With co-bed methane extraction suspended thanks to the moratorium on fracking, the little bog sun jumper spider has been given a reprieve and the opportunity to go forth and multiply. Preserving biodiversity through initiatives like the species champion programme highlights the importance of protections for the endangered species of all types, from little spiders to rhythmogwires hedgehogs and gail roses red squirrels, found in a broad range of habitats across Scotland. I do not have time to go into the benefits of peatland restoration this evening, but the issue has been well rehearsed at the Economy, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee and its predecessor Iraqi committee, which had a peatland restoration champion in the former convener, the Moss boss himself, the well-respected retired MSP Rob Gibson. In closing, the species champion initiative is a source of positive action not just for the sponsored species but for their habitats, for the citizens of Scotland and even for the broader global community. If you have not already done so, sign up to the species champion initiative at the parliamentary event on Thursday. Can I reassure you, Mr McDonnell, that the clock stopped and restarted again? You did in fact speak for longer than one and a half minutes. I wonder if you can go to Johann Lamont to be followed by Jenny Gilruth. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. It is a privilege to be part of this debate. It is said that every day is a school day and I have learned a great deal more than I probably needed to know about the slow worm, but it is an important debate and I congratulate Graham Day. You might ask, why would somebody who represents a Glasgow constituency be part of this process? Apart from the fact that I am, of course, the number one fan of the arches in the parm and know more than anybody needs to know about the agricultural challenges facing her farmers. I also spent my childhood going on holiday to the island of Tyree understanding the importance of love of the land and the elements and the way in which humans and the land and animals must work together and our great love of the bird, which I am a champion of, which is the lapwing or pewet. I have to confess that I had a bit of a desire to be the champion for the corn creak and not for the first time might Russell beat me to it. A lot of the issues facing the lapwing involve the same kind of challenges and solutions as were done for the corn creak and the experience of the corn creak should give us optimism that it is possible to manage the land in a way that values the animals that live upon it. However, like everything else, there is an inequality here. We all odd and add the idea of the wee hedgehog, but we were not awning and eyeing at the slow worm. I congratulate Bruce Crawford on championing a species that probably only its mammy would love. In fact, it is important that we love all of the 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 those of the people in Europe who have described all the wonderful things that they have done as a species champion. We have succeeded in educating and shaming me at the same time, and I promise to do more in the future to talk about and be a champion on behalf of the lapwing. The lapwings are part of the plover family of wading birds and can be seen in the UK all the year round. They are also known as the Piewet imitation of its display calls. Its proper name describes its wavering flight. They breed throughout Scotland with the highest concentration in the Hebrides and Northern Isles and in lowland agricultural areas of the south and east. In the winter, the lapwings will tend to fly in loose-bunged flocks and Scottish birds move to lower grounds and estuaries, so they migrate to Ireland and even further to France or Portugal. Despite their migrations, they come back amazingly to the same fields to nest each year. Although they are widespread in Scotland, the number of lapwings declined by 59 per cent between 1995 and 2013. Indeed, in 2015, the lapwing was listed as, quote, globally near threatened on the IUCN red list of threatened species. There is plenty to do to highlight the importance of protecting those species. We need to know how we can work with those who work with the land to develop practice that does not threaten those species and to understand that there is a role for government in ensuring that the conditions are there that we do not lose precious creatures. We know that farmers, crofters and landowners are very often willing to work with those who want to see those species protected. I think that the campaign is an important one, because it offers the opportunity to talk to all of our young people, to talk across Scotland, urban and rural, about the fact that the things that we do have consequences for the future and that those are things that matter. The lower we can have an enjoyment here to talk about those things is a very important issue around public awareness. I thank again those who have brought the debate and look forward to continuing as a speeches champion for the lapwing. I am delighted to speak today in support of my colleague Graham Day, MSP's motion on the species champion initiative relaunch. Furthermore, as a member of the environment committee, I am only too aware of the importance of raising public awareness of Scotland's threatened wildlife. I recently met the Woodland Trust in my constituency. Across Mid Fife and Glenrothes, the trust owns two small sites at Largo and a larger site at Formant Hills just at the back of Glenrothes. In the late 1990s, 80,000 trees were planted at the Formant Hills 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 pathway markers around the site. The trees that are 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 in sight while keeping evil spirits at bay. I remember the croff from my granny that was brought up in Rear of Ord and the rowan tree that stood at the foot of the path to the front door. Indeed, there is a rowan tree planted at the pass holder's entrance to Parliament, a tree that protects all MSPs, regardless of party political affiliation or even voting intention when it comes to referenda. Members might be familiar with one of Scotland's most famous regimental pieces of music, Lady Nair's early 19th century piece entitled Rowan Tree. I am sure that 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 woodland. That target has yet to be achieved. The rowan is also threatened by overgrazing, and there is therefore a need for the Government to continue to promote sustainable deer management practices. To conclude, the Rowan Tree is part of Scotland's history. It is a vital part of the Government's commitment to tree planting. It brings us luck and protects us from evil. I am proud to be its species champion. Mark Ruskell, to be followed by Mary Evans. I thank Graham Day for bringing this debate to the chamber tonight. I congratulate the Scottish Environment Link for successfully relaunching the species programme into the fifth session of the Parliament. At one level, it is a great bit of fun, but it is also a deeply humbling thought that we are currently living through the sixth great extinction period in the history of this planet. At Holyroods, we think in terms of electoral and budget cycles, and even on occasion we dare to think intergenerationally, too. To see that true vision of the garden planet that we are trying to regenerate, we need to look further back to previous millennia. Let me turn to the species that I am champion for—the white-tailed eagle or sea eagle, as it is sometimes known. 100 years ago, the species was extinct in Scotland and across the British Isles. Even records going back to the late 1800s showed both sea and golden eagles limited to just a few hundred pairs. Groundbreaking work led by the late Richard Evans examined ancient cultural references to eagles across the British Isles that emerged through place names around 1500 years ago. He found, for example, in Scots Gallic, 276 place names referencing eagles and 152 in Old English. Combined with modern ecological knowledge, a picture built up that showed far greater numbers than had been previously imagined, up to 1,400 sea eagles and 1,500 golden eagle pairs across the islands—not just in the highlands, but as far as the south coast of England and with large overlapping territories between the two species. Richard Evans' work was critical, not just because it gave us a tantalising glimpse of the state of nature in previous millennia, but because it mapped out landscapes where habitats may still exist to support reintroduced eagles today. The reintroduction of the white-tailed eagle has already shown early success. The first pair has been reintroduced from Norway in 1975 to Rome, with the first wild chick fledged on Moll in 1985, further reintroductions across Westeros in the 1990s and for the first time on the east coast of Fife from 2007. Those programmes have thrived because of the support of conservationists, landowners, farmers and the police, as well as many community groups, passionate volunteers, the RSPB, the Forestry Commission, all oiled with lottery and European funding. We now have over 100 breeding pairs in Scotland, with an SNH study earlier this year predicting 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 in around £5 million of the economy of Moll each year. Getting back, Presiding Officer, to even those 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 now on its way to the Parliament's Environment Committee highlighted 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 this beleaguered species, but we must celebrate success while at the same time keeping an eye on the progress that we need to ensure its continued success. I very much welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate today. I again would like to thank Graham Day for relaunching the initiative that I hope eventually all MSPs will sign up to and really by echoing the thanks to Scottish Environment Link 2. It is fantastic to see such a good turnout for the debate today and to hear all about the other species that are represented by others in the chamber. I have to say that I hold a special place in my heart for the species, the pee that is described by Johann Lamont, because it lies at the heart of my constituency in the Merns and it was so elegantly written about in Sunset Song by Lewis Grasic Gibbons, so that is a very special species to me. However, this campaign is a very important one. There are so many species out there that need that individual focus and that promotion in Parliament and the wider public, because we need to protect the natural environments and habitats of the animals, plants and flowers that make up the incredible, diverse and unique environment that we have in Scotland. However, holding on to and encouraging some of those species does take a lot of work and a lot of focus and probably none more so than the species that I am champion for, which is the hen harrier. Some of you may have been exceptionally lucky enough to see one. If you are, you are in a very privileged and tiny minority, but I imagine that even if you have not seen one, most of you may have heard of one and chances are that if you have, it has not been in a positive way. The hen harrier is one of the most spectacular birds that we have in Scotland. Considered to be a beautiful and agile hunter, it is often referred to as a sky dancer because of the elegant and acrobatic flight that it has. It is a medium-sized raptor and it feeds on small mammals and birds and can be found in upland heather moorland during their breeding season and in winter in lowland farmland. They can be found across the UK, however, over the past couple of decades they have become an increasingly rare sight. Between the last two surveys to determine their numbers in 2004 and 2010, the population of hen harriers was found to have fallen by 22 per cent to 525 pairs. In the north-east of Scotland, in which my constituency sits, there was a peak population of 28 pairs in the 1990s. In 2014, there was only one. The hen harrier is a red-listed UK bird of conservation concern. What has caused that significant decline? The predation of eggs and chicks, bad weather and food shortage are factors that contribute to unsuccessful breeding attempts, but one of the biggest threats is that of 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. However, what can we do now? We will have to do what we can to protect such 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. Within our manifesto, the SNP has committed to accepting the recommendations from the Wildlife Crime Penalties Review Group to introduce tough new maximum penalties for those who commit crimes against wildlife and promised to set up a wildlife crime investigation unit as part of Police Scotland, which hopefully will have an impact. That is not the easiest species to champion, and it will not be easy work, but I hope that it is one where we will start to see positive results. Lewis MacDonald, to be followed by Christine Grahame. Thank you very much, and I thank Grahame Day for bringing this debate. I have been fortunate, I guess after listening to Bruce Crawford and Angus MacDonald, to be a species champion for the curlew for the last three years. With the support of RSPB, I have been able to visit sites in the north-east, which have a connection with this very emblematic species. Everyone knows the curlew as a bird of Loch and Shore, and so the Loch of Strathbeg in Buchan was an obvious destination. I would recommend a visit to anyone who has not yet been to see the huge number and variety of birds of which the curlew is only one. Indeed, RSPB recently completed a £60,000 refurbishment of the Loch of Strathbeg visitor centre, which will allow them to host many more volunteers each year and also to provide an even better experience for tourists and for wildlife enthusiasts who go there, too. Less well-known perhaps to city dwellers is that the curlew breeds on high moors and farmland, where it is equally a defining species. I saw that for myself at the Corgarfin Strathedon not so long ago, but I also saw the work of the RSPB to protect and encourage breeding curlews and their chicks. All of that matters for the future of the species. The curlew, like a number of others that we have heard about this evening, is marked red on the birds of conservation concern list and the international union for conservation of nature classified 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, and around half of that is here in Scotland, around 36,000 breeding pairs. That might sound like a large number compared with some of the numbers that we have heard, but with a bird like that, that is a significant reduction from what we have seen in the past and therefore the alerts are very well identified. As with so many other native species—again, we have heard this from others in relation to the hare as well as from others in relation to other species of birds—it is changes in farming practice that have reduced the rate of breeding success, while there has also been an increase in the number of predators that take eggs and chicks in the breeding season. Curly numbers have also been affected not just in the breeding grounds inland and uphill but also in their wintering grounds on or near the coast. However, those farmers who have adjusted their farming practices to encourage the curlew to breed on the land should themselves be encouraged. As has been mentioned, this is a time when big decisions are imminent on how we support agriculture in future. I think that this is an area that should be taken very much into consideration. In other areas, for example, where the new forestry is designed in a way to protect breeding areas in the upland area. I think that there is a job of work to be done for the curlew, as for other species. I very much welcome the efforts that have gone into making this debate happen and look forward to that work continuing in the future. Christine Grahame, who is followed by Tavish Scott. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I congratulate Grahame Day. I am pleased to state that this is my second year as being the species champion for the house sparrow or sphug. I am doing my bit for them because my garden is bursting with sphugs from dawn to dusk. They live in my neighbour's holly tree, which I call sphug towers. They commute to the many feeding stations that I have, living the high life on fat balls, seeds and wheelworms. Then they commute to my neighbour's bird bath, have a bit of a dip and then on to my weeping birch for a little bit of a preen, then back to sphug towers. On occasion, they are confronted by a gang of marauding thrushes but 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. They provide Mr Smokey my rescue cat with hours of tormented pleasure as he eyes him up through glass walls with chattering teeth. They remind me however of this poem by Norman McKay called Funely Enough. Sparrow quote, he's no artist. His taste in clothes is more dowdy than gaudi. 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 and lawns, to sing solitary in midnight, trees to glide solitary over great Atlantic's, not for him. He's rather a punch up in a gutter. He carries what learning he has likely. 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 in the snow and freeze to branches, watch him happily flying on the O-levels and A-levels of the air. So I say, three cheers for the humble spug he survives. Tavish Scott, the last of the open speeches. Deputy Presiding Officer, as you well know, I always listen very carefully to the wind-up speeches made by the cabinet secretary. Tonight will be no exception, especially if she's going to have to deal with the sex life of the slow worm, as described by Bruce Crawford. I saw the civil service passing down notes. It took 45 minutes for the note to arrive on the front bench on that subject. So we'll listen carefully to Rosanna Cunningham's detailed interpretation of that. Graham Day, and I congratulate him on bringing this debate forward, mentioned the fluffy orchard. Can I just say to Graham that if you've ever met a real killer whale, you'd want a fluffy one. Some of our wild swimmers in Shetland this year, who were around Lerwick Harbour in August, had a very close encounter with a pod of killer whales or pod of orcas that swam around the Shetland coastline most of this summer. From what I've heard and how it's been described to me, you wouldn't wish to get too close, particularly when you look just like a seal to a pod of orcas at any time at all. But there is method in my madness in terms of the fluffy orca because I'm running, as Graham Day mentioned as well, a school competition with all our primary schools in the islands around naming the orca because of the importance of sightings. That's really the point about much of this work that we do species champions. In terms of the future of the orca, it is the understanding of the patterns of behaviour that they have and where, in this case, schools can play a hugely important role in understanding that by providing documentary evidence as to where they are, the directions of travel and how they are moving. One of my other colleagues had a name for the orca as well. John Thursley, who is now the chairman of Visit Scotland, had a problem with a wild salmon in a river close to his who were being eaten by seals at the head of that river. He did what any person would do in those circumstances. He bought a 20ft inflatable orca and moored it at the head of the river to scare off the seals, which indeed it did. We thought he'd better give it a name and he called it, I'm told, my orca, which I suppose makes a lot of sense when you think about it. I'd like to thank, rather, Sarah Dolman as well of the Whale and Dolphin conservation for all the help in making this happen. To Hugh Harrop at Shetland Wildlife and to the 5,727 members and rising of Shetlander orca sightings for all the work that they have already done, particularly on Facebook and social media, the posts on these sites have been astronomical this summer. It does slightly held back by the fact that when you're out of and around the coastline of Shetland there's no Wi-Fi or indeed no 3G, there's not even any G, never mind 3G. So the postings take a while, but the reality is that that's where there's huge interest in this fantastic species, in this wonderful mammal. I would absolutely wholeheartedly agree with other colleagues in saying, get involved in this programme because the work that can be done in highlighting, yes, to Mark Ruskell, the serious issues around nature conservation and the marine environment, but also the fun for the next generation in any species can best be seen by the humble orca. That closes the open debate and can I say it to the chamber, I really enjoyed all these speeches sitting here, but I have to tell you that I've been sitting to myself trying to imagine the characteristics that you all share with your particular species, so someday I might tell you what I came up with. Cabinet Secretary, up to seven minutes. I'd like to congratulate Graham Day for bringing this debate to the chamber and thank all members for their contributions. It's been good to focus today on the wonderful diversity of species that we have in Scotland and to hear the enthusiasm and commitment of those in the chamber. I do welcome the relaunch of the species champions initiative by Scottish Environment Link. That was a very successful initiative during the previous Parliament. Indeed, I understand that it was nominated for several awards and has inspired similar programmes in Wales, Northern Ireland and England, which is yet another example of the forward-thinking approach that we have in Scotland. As Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, I'm in the privileged position, I suppose, of being a champion for all those species. I don't intend that to be a flippant remark. The challenge of protecting and enhancing Scotland's biodiversity is an important one, and that's why we're fully committed to working with partners to deliver the Scottish biodiversity strategy and the accompanying route map to 2020. Indeed, the route map has worked under way or planned for, the conservation and management of many individual species such as wild cats, red squirrels and the great yellow bumble bee. David Stewart will be pleased to hear, and the rare lichens, which prefer Scotland's west coast woodlands. I'm delighted to see that we have almost 60 species champions already, but, as Graham Day pointed out, that means that the majority of MSPs are not involved, so I encourage those members who are not currently a species champion to find out about the wonderful and at times fragile species in their constituencies and see what they can do to champion biodiversity. As Johann Lamont remarked, there's often a temptation to seek out the cute and the cuddly species, but the wonderful thing about nature is its diversity, so I do hope that someone will adopt the tadpole shrimp or learn to love the pond mud snail, as Bruce Crawford has clearly learned to love the slow worm. Although, with his description of it having a forked tongue and being legless, I did think he'd strayed into a description of some of his parliamentary colleagues. Other colleagues were more circumspect with their descriptions, but it's fair to say that we're all better informed about a number of species than we were at 5 p.m. In fact, we may know about more species than we did at 5 p.m. It's also fair to say that there are species champions with bigger presentational challenges than others, although I do look forward to and could likely sell tickets for the forthcoming attraction dances with orcas starring Tavish Scott, but perhaps only briefly. As some 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 actions listed are on track to achieve or exceed their targets by 2020. Of course, that means that we've also got 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's important to strive to meet our international obligations. Second, we need to ensure that Scotland's wonderful biodiversity, including all our fascinating species and habitats, are protected and continue to flourish now and for future generations. It is good to focus on individual species, so I'm grateful to Scottish Environment Link for raising awareness and providing the impetus through the species champions initiative. However, as a number of members have referred to, we need to be mindful that species don't thrive in isolation. Species need habitats in which to live, and there are many interactions and dependencies between species. This aspect of the discussion was highlighted by Ruth Maguire, in particular, 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 on a landscape scale so that the wider ecosystem is restored or enhanced, thus delivering a range of other benefits. Just for Angus MacDonald, our peatland restoration programme is an example. Over 10,000 hectares of peatland have been restored in Scotland since 2012 through the SNH-led peatland action initiative. Not only do those restored peatlands provide habitat and space for individual species to thrive, they sequester carbon, improve water storage and provide benefits for local communities. I urge all of you to think of species not just 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 importantly, healthy species and habitats make for healthy people's health and wellbeing. For this reason, I am delighted to see that the relaunched species champions initiative has a new focus on urban species. An example of how investing in an improved natural environment benefits species and habitats and also improves the health, well-being and economic opportunities of local communities is, of course, the central Scotland green network, which I know that many members will be familiar with. It is Europe's largest green space project, and it covers pretty much the whole of the 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 may not have heard of before they were allocated said species. However, I do hope that the debate has prompted us all to take further action to enhance biodiversity right across Scotland. I now close this meeting.