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Bird area 'of no great ecological importance'

The diversity of bird species in Long Valley has been overstated and the area is not a site of great ecological importance, the Lok Ma Chau spur line appeal board heard yesterday.

David Melville, former director of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Hong Kong and ex-project manager of Mai Po nature reserve, said Long Valley was not a site of international conservation importance.

The board, chaired by retired non-permanent Court of Final Appeal Judge Barry Mortimer, was set up to rule on the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation's appeal against the Environmental Protection Department's rejection of the $7 billion spur line project, which it said would cross the bird haven.

Mr Melville said the bird species diversity in Long Valley needed to be looked at closely as only a few core species visited regularly.

He said there were 210 species recorded in the valley over 10 years, but 139 species had been recorded at the old airport in Kai Tak over a six-year period. 'Some birds adapt quite happily to a noisy environment,' he said.

In terms of the globally threatened species in Long Valley, Mr Melville said they only constituted an insignificant portion of the whole population.

He said some of the species, like the red-billed starling and Schrenck's bittern, were no longer considered threatened, while others, such as the imperial eagle and greater spotted eagle, preferred Mai Po.

The hearing continues today.

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