breeding

According to Cornell University's All about Birds website, the male breeding birds have a bright red body and black wings and tails, while females and juvenile birds have a yellowish-green body.

The success of Koch’s approach inadvertently led to the United States' most fertile breeding ground for punters being on the other side of the world.

“The use of selective breeding over the past 50 years has brought a huge number of animal welfare problems,” he says.

Last year the previous government passed the Precision Breeding Act, which paved the way for the commercial sale of gene-edited food in England.

But Defra ministers also have to consider the views of environmental campaigners, such as Dr Helen Wallace of Genewatch UK, who have concerns about the “unwanted consequences” of the Precision Breeding Act.