Natural England - Wildlife challenge: England’s lost and threatened species
Wildlife challenge: England’s lost and threatened species
11 March 2010
First ever audit of all of England’s lost and declining native species
Centuries of conservation records go under the microscope
Natural England has launched the most complete audit of hundreds of years of England’s wildlife winners and losers to an audience of leading conservationists at the Zoological Society of London today (11 March).
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.
Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, said: “Coinciding with the International Year of Biodiversity, this report is a powerful reminder that we cannot take our wildlife for granted and that we all lose when biodiversity declines. Every species has a role and, like rivets in an aeroplane, the overall structure of our environment is weakened each time a single species is lost. Biodiversity matters and with more and more of our species and habitats confined to isolated, protected sites we need to think on a much broader geographical scale about how we can reverse the losses of the recent past and secure a more solid future for our wildlife.”
The Lost Life report highlights how habitat loss, inappropriate management, environmental pollution and pressure from non-native species have all played a part in the erosion of England’s biodiversity. All of the major groups of flora and fauna have experienced losses, with butterflies, amphibians, and many plant and other insect species being particularly hard hit – in some groups up to a quarter of species have been become extinct since 1800.
Despite these pressures, conservation efforts have achieved many notable successes in protecting priority species and habitats – including the return of the red kite and the large blue butterfly. Nevertheless, losses continue and 943 native species are now classed as a conservation priority, while the numbers of several hundred more are in significant decline. Some of England’s most familiar species – including the red squirrel, common toad, and European eel – face an uncertain future.
To provide long-term support for our wildlife, Natural England is working with a range of partners in the England Biodiversity Group 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 are 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.
Dr Helen Phillips continued: “Current conservation programmes have been central to supporting England’s biodiversity and they show that we can reverse some of the losses of the past. But firefighting to rescue species in severe decline can never be a long-term solution. We need a step-change in conservation that goes beyond the targeted work that has gone on to protect individual sites and species, and which focuses on restoring the health of ecosystems across entire landscapes. We have to give wildlife and habitats more room to thrive and only by tackling the problems of environmental decline in this co-ordinated way, and at this sort of scale, can we succeed in halting and ultimately reversing many of the recent declines in biodiversity.”
-Ends-
Notes to editors
Copies of the full report - Lost Life: England’s Lost and Threatened Species - can be downloaded from the Natural England website.
Copies of Natural England and Defra’s joint publication: Securing Biodiversity - A new framework for delivering priority habitats and species in England can be downloaded from the Natural England website.
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.Recent extinctions in England have included the chequered skipper butterfly, the mouse-eared bat and the great yellow bumblebee which have joined the ranks of earlier extinctions like the black tern, northern right whale and Gypsy moth. Some of the lost species - such as the great auk and Ivell’s sea anemone - are now globally extinct. The latter was lost from its last known site in the world, a brackish lagoon in West Sussex, as recently as the 1980s.
Targeted conservation efforts over the past 15 years have made a number of real improvements in the status of the 390 species that appeared on the original BAP priority species list. The latest assessment in 2008, reported that some 45 species (12 per cent) were increasing, 128 (33 per cent) were now stable and for a further 22 (6 per cent) the decline was slowing in England.
- Bittern numbers, for example, increased from 19 booming males in 1999 to 75 in 2008 (at a similar level to the 20th century peak in the mid-1950s). A major programme of reedbed restoration and creation has fuelled this increase.
- Similar efforts to conserve lowland heathland and chalk grassland have undoubtedly assisted the recovery of a number of species, including the woodlark, sand lizard, early gentian, ladybird spider, Adonis blue and silver-studded blue butterflies.
- Some conservation initiatives, including those for the large blue butterfly, corncrake and pool frog have involved the reintroduction of the species to England. Reintroduction techniques are also used to boost populations and expand the range of species that have become threatened. Examples include the field cricket, lady’s slipper orchid and dormouse which have all been introduced to areas which were formerly occupied, together with habitat management and protection.
- Largely as a result of this conservation effort, a number of BAP species, including the pipistrelle bat, Adonis blue, silver-spotted skipper, pink meadow cap, slender green feather-moss, western ramping-fumitory and Killarney fern were not re-selected for inclusion in the revised BAP list in 2007 because their conservation targets had been met.
Overall degree of loss, depletion and decline in better-studied groups.
| Species group | Number of native species lost | Number of extant native species | Number of extant species on the UK BAP list | Number not on BAP list but with historically depleted populations | Proportion of extant species with historically depleted populations or appearing on BAP list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reptiles | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 100% |
| Mammals – regularly occurring whales and dolphins | 2 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 100% |
| Amphibians | 2 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 57% |
| Freshwater fish | 2 | 35 | 13 | 2 | 43% |
| Mammals – terrestrial and seals | 6 | 43 | 15 | 1 | 37% |
| Bumblebees | 4 | 20 | 5 | 2 | 35% |
| Butterflies | 18 | 75 | 23 | 2 | 33% |
| Breeding birds | 10 | 175 | 40 | 8 | 27% |
| Vascular plants | 20 | 1297 | 121 | 194 | 24% |
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.
For further information contact:
Beth Rose on 0300 060 1405 / 07900 608 052 / beth.rose@naturalengland.org.uk
The National Press Office on 0845 603 9953/ press@naturalengland.org.uk / out of hours 07970 098 005
