There is a temptation still to talk about the government in the UK and to ignore the fact that in essence there are five governments in our country - ones for the UK as a whole, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This is made more difficult to keep straight in one's mind by the fact that what happens in the Palace of Westminster is sometimes making UK decisions and sometimes making English ones.
Many of the decisions that have the biggest direct influence on wildlife are devolved matters, for example, there are different environmental grant schemes for farmers in each of the four UK countries. And nature conservation policy is very much a devolved issue although the UK government is responible for meeting, or not meeting, EU Directives such as the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive.
But another consequence of devolution is that important discussions on nature conservation amongst decision-makers can crop up in any part of the UK. On Wednesday afternoon the Scottish Parliament discussed the decline of songbird populations (it's well worth having a look at the debate - click this link and scroll to Column 19422 to find the relevant bit).
Jamie McGrigor launched the discussion and seems to have a true love of wildlife but a few misconceptions about how ecology works! Since Mr McGrigor is an RSPB member may I commend him on the former but gently point out to him that kestrels and sparrowhawks are not important predators of songbird nests and that the widespread declines in many songbird species across the UK certainly are not due to the reintroduction of white-tailed eagles (which are rare and sadly restricted to Scotland at the moment) nor to the reintroduction of red kites (which are still rare and would find it pretty difficult to catch a skylark or a linnet!). Mr McGrigor also refers to avian predators as cannibals - what an odd and loaded way to put it. But thank you Mr McGrigor for raising what is undoubtedly a very important issue - the decline of many formerly common bird species - and for stimulating an important discussion.
Elaine Murray - also an RSPB member I'm delighted to see - made a whole range of excellent points. In particular Mrs Murray has rumbled the organisation Songbird Survival and quotes one of her constituents as describing it as '...a very thinly disguised anti-raptor/pro-hunting lobby...'.
Jim Hume - also an RSPB member, and a farmer, appears to be more worried about the impacts of crows on some bird populations than that of raptors (I think he is right) and mentions the importance of good habitat management and proper use of the planning system to maintain bird numbers.
Robin Harper - another RSPB member, stresses the impact of climate change and agricultural practices on bird numbers.
Nanette Milne - yes, another RSPB member, is very well informed about the plight of the corn bunting in her northeast Scotland constituency and the work of the RSPB with farmers to try to stop the decline.
Liam Macarthur - whose family are RSPB members but seems himself to have failed to make the commitment - praises the work of volunteers in chronicling the changes in bird numbers (it's perhaps a shame that our friends in the BTO didn't get a few more mentions in this debate - or at least the joint BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey which relies on volunteers to provide what is almost certainly the best bird monitoring information in the world!). Mr Macarthur has also rumbled Songbird Survival and is concerned that its anti-raptor messages could encourage people to break wildlife law at a time when the Scottish government has taken a firm view on such illegal activities.
And so to the Minister - Roseanna Cunningham - to wind up the debate. More excellent points - you don't say that you are an RSPB member Ms Cunningham - you really should be! She stresses the importance of agriculture, the fact that trends of some species are different in Scotland from other parts of the UK (and in some cases better!), the importance of the work of volunteers and of gardeners and of the danger of adopting simplistic views on the impacts of predation by raptors. The Minister states that the broad concensus of well-informed opinion does not seem to be on Songbird Survival's side in the raptor debate.
All in all a well-informed debate with the real causes of songbird declines and the complexities of those causes being highlighted.
I doubt that such a well-informed debate would occur in Westminster - devolution allows common sense to break out wherever sensible politicians congregate!