30/12/2018
A major
report has found that one in three species of bird is in significant
decline in Wales. The State of Birds in Wales study found farmland
and woodland species were especially vulnerable, with the researchers
identifying loss of habitat and climate change while urging urgent conservation
action.
Natural
Resources Wales (NRW), who headed up the report, said the data provided "a
real health check for scientists, conservationists and decision makers".
The findings were achieved with the help of the British Trust for
Ornithology (BTO), the Welsh Ornithological Society (WOS), and RSPB Cymru.
Patrick Lindley, Senior Ornithologist at NRW, said: "When we look at
conservation urgency, we've probably never seen the like of this before in
terms of what we need to do. It’s startling."
Notable
declines in the report included the extinction of breeding populations of Common Nightingale, Corn
Bunting and Eurasian
Dotterel. Common
Starling declined by a massive 72 per cent between 1995 and
2016. Many threatened species that rely on farmland and moor habitat have also
seen numbers crash: Black
Grouse declined by 68 per cent, Red
Grouse by 45 per cent, Northern
Lapwing 46 per cent and Eurasian
Curlew 39 per cent.
Neil
Lambert, Head of Conservation Management for RSPB Cymru said: "With 90 per
cent of Wales farmed, agricultural practices have a huge impact on birds
and other wildlife. Leaving the European Union provides a unique opportunity to
develop new land management policies for Wales that will help farmers restore
nature."
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