Wildlife Challenge: West of England's lost and threatened species
12 March 2010
England’s natural landscapes are considerably poorer than they used to be, according to a report published today which reveals the country has lost 500 of its natural species in the last two centuries.
Lost Life: England’s lost and threatened species - The most complete audit of hundreds of years of England’s wildlife today reveals some of the lost and threatened species in the West of England, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.
Lost
- Red squirrel - widespread has disappeared from the West of England over the last fifty years – lost to an alien invasion of grey squirrels.
- Natterjack toad – common in the early 20th century but now gone due to development and agricultural intensification.
- Woodland birds - The Willow Tit has disappeared from the West of England.
- Black Veined White Butterfly was lost from the Cotswold’s in the 1920s.
- Corncrake became extinct in Gloucestershire and Somerset in the 1960s
- Greater mouse-eared bat and tawny earwig extinct.
- Mazarin Blue butterfly became extinct in the Cotswold’s in 1865.
- The Large Marsh Grasshopper has been lost from the Somerset Levels.
- Veilwort has been lost from the Somerset Levels in the last 10 years.
- Bog Rosemary was lost from Shapwick Heath before 1930. Threatened
- Woodland Birds e.g. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
- House sparrow – threatened by housing and development.
- Native Crayfish of the River Avon in trouble.
- Large Blue Butterfly – now very rare, reintroduction successful in some sites.
- The Greater Water Parsnip is now restricted to a few sites on the Somerset Levels.
- The Cheddar and Avon Gorges are home to some of the world’s rarest Whitebeams.
- The Polecat was driven out of England by persecution in the 19th century and is only slowly making its way back.
- Cuckoos have declined across the South West by 69% since 1994.
- The Pasque Flower has declined to just a handful of sites in Gloucestershire – Barnsley Warren is now the best place to see them in the country.
- Farmland Birds – Corn Bunting, Grey Partridge, Turtle Dove and Yellow Wagtail – all at risk
2010 has been designated as International Year of Biodiversity. It is the all the rich and varied forms of life that can exist on earth – it is the air we breathe, the food we eat and the plants and animals we share it with. Life can be found virtually anywhere but survival depends on complex and varied circumstances. If something changes or is lost or damaged then the animal or plant that depends on it is at risk. Species can adapt but only if given time and space, which is why the world risks losing some of its most iconic species like the tiger.
But extinctions do not just happen abroad, they have been happening here too. Natural England’s report ‘Lost Life’ which charts the decline and loss of hundreds of species across England over the last 150 years including many in the West of England, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. These include well known species like the red squirrel as well as less well known ones like tawny earwig and the greater mouse eared bat. We must take more care of our environment because it is weakened every time a single species is lost, and, because it is our environment too, we are all at risk of losing when biodiversity declines.
Lost Life: England’s lost and threatened species identifies nearly 500 animals and plants that have become extinct in England – practically all within the last two centuries. On top of this, nearly 1,000 native species have been given conservation priority status because of the severity of the threats facing them.
Despite these pressures, conservation efforts in the South West have achieved many notable successes in protecting priority species and habitats.
In the West of England:
The Avon Gorge is home to the rare Whitebeam, where the endangered species is protected at Leigh Woods. A vital project to save the UK’s only native crayfish species from extinction is being carried out here in the South West. The project sees the translocation of the white-clawed crayfish into safe havens or "Ark" sites in an attempt to save them from a complete takeover by the aggressive, disease-carrying American signal crayfish. The effort is a partnership between the Avon Wildlife Trust, Bristol Zoo Gardens, the Environment Agency, Bristol Water and Buglife with funding from Natural England.
The rare white-clawed crayfish is the UK’s largest freshwater invertebrate and plays a vital role in aquatic ecosystems. However, there has been around a 95% decline in the number of populations in the South West and the species faces extinction from UK waters within 30 years unless new populations can be established and protected in safe, isolated waters.
In Wiltshire:
The Great Bustard, a magnificent bird who sits atop the Wiltshire County Coast of Arms, nested in Wiltshire until early 1800s but they were hunted to extinction by the end of the 1830’s. Now the Great Bustard Group is working to reintroduce them in Wiltshire on the margins of their former stronghold of Salisbury Plain.
Numbers of farmland birds are rapidly declining in Wiltshire with fewer and fewer sightings of the once common Lapwing, Snipe and Redshank. Natural England has recently set up a Special Project funded under an agri-environment scheme to work with farmers on the edge of Salisbury Plain. By creating wet grassland, an enhanced habitat will encourage breeding of these now rare birds. A recent recovery programme for the Stone Curlew on the plain has seen encouraging results.
In Gloucestershire:
The Pasque Flower, now a very rare flower grows in chalk grassland. Due to urban development and ploughing for arable cropping, only 18 of 120 populations remain in the whole of the UK with four in Gloucestershire, and numbers continue to decline. Natural England is funding work with farmers at Rodborough Common and Barnsley Warren to encourage breeding, with successful results. Barnsley Common is now one of the best sites to see the Pasque Flower.
Numbers of The Duke of Burgundy Butterfly are declining rapidly across England, but they are beginning to thrive in the Cotswolds and they are now the subject of a special project to encourage breeding grounds. The Adonis blue butterfly is also beginning to thrive again thanks to a warmer climate and improved grassland conditions.
The Cotswold Hills Farmland Bird Project has targeted areas across the Cotswolds that have seen the biggest declines in farmland birds, working with farmers to create breeding conditions for Corn Bunting, Grey Partridge, Lapwing, Tree Sparrow, Turtle Dove and Yellow Wagtail. 11,000 acres of farmland are now signed up to the project and species like the Corn Bunting are starting to thrive.
Natural England’s South West Regional Director, Janette Ward welcomed the report saying “This is a timely reminder of the fragility of life and how quickly species can disappear on our own doorstep, almost without being noticed. We can stop this happening and arrest declines but it does need everyone to recognise how important our environment is and to act together to minimise the stresses and strains on it. I believe that in the South West we have every chance achieve this”.
To provide long term support for our wildlife, Natural England is working with a range of partners to adopt a “landscape-scale” approach to conservation which goes beyond the conservation of small protected sites and individual species and embraces the management of entire landscape areas and the ecosystems that operate within them. Wide-scale restoration of habitats and ecosystems and linking of habitat areas is seen as key to taking the pressure off the biodiversity hotspots of individual sites and reserves and giving broader support to wildlife in the wider countryside.
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Notes to editors
For further information, interviews and images contact: Natural England’s South West Press Office - Joanna Busk 07900 608440, joanna.busk@naturalengland.org.uk or Gwilym Wren on 07876 146110 or Gwilym.wren@naturalengland.org.uk
For further information about Natural England please visit: www.naturalengland.org.uk
Copies of the full report - Lost Life: England’s Lost and Threatened Species - can be downloaded from the Natural England website. Natural England and Defra’s joint publication: Securing Biodiversity A new framework for delivering priority habitats and species in England is also available to download.
Lost Life: England’s lost and threatened species attempts to document all known species lost from England in the last two millennia. For some species groups, including certain invertebrate groups and fungi, the number of species in England is unknown, so it is impossible to say exactly what has been lost. Consequently, this report cannot be comprehensive for all groups but we have collated all available data, including those for the less known groups. For some groups, we were able to assess species losses separately for each English region. We have also analysed data relating to those species that have declined significantly.
We estimate that at least 55,000 species are native or probably were native to England. We know that 492 of these have been lost within historic times, most within the last 200 years. The proportion of native species now lost in the better-studied groups varies from zero to almost a quarter of known species
The England Biodiversity Strategy sets out the action and co-ordinating framework needed to halt biodiversity loss and to rebuild our natural environment. At UK level, Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) priority species have been identified, to give strong direction on where we need to focus our conservation efforts. The UK BAP prioritises a significantly large number of UK species that are globally threatened and species whose populations are in rapid decline (by 50 per cent or more in range or numbers over the last 25 years). It also identifies species that occur in the UK in internationally important numbers but are in ’moderate’ decline (by at least 25 per cent or more in range or numbers), and other species whose populations are considered to be under extreme threat in the UK. The UK BAP species in England are listed as “species of principle concern” for the conservation of biological diversity under section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (2006) and contains 943 species.
About Natural England
Natural England is the government’s independent advisor on the natural environment. Established in 2006 our work is focused on enhancing England’s wildlife and landscapes and maximising the benefits they bring to the public.
We establish and care for England’s main wildlife and geological sites, ensuring that over 4,000 National Nature Reserves and Sites of Special Scientific Interest are looked after and improved.
We work to ensure that England’s landscapes are effectively protected, designating England’s National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Marine Conservation Zones, and advising widely on their conservation.
We run England’s Environmental Stewardship green farming schemes that deliver over £400 million a year to farmers and landowners, enabling them to enhance the natural environment across two thirds of England’s farmland.
We fund, manage, and provide scientific expertise for hundreds of conservation projects each year, improving the prospects for thousands of England’s species and habitats.
We promote access to the wider countryside, helping establish National Trails and coastal trails and ensuring that the public can enjoy and benefit from them.
