West Midlands losing key species as UK wildlife disappears
Almost 500 plants and animals have become extinct in England in the past two millennia - with most vanishing in the last 200 years, according to a wide-ranging audit of the country’s wildlife.
The roll-call of 492 species which have vanished from our countryside stretches from ancient losses such as the lynx to the disappearance in the last few decades of the greater mouse-eared bat and short-haired bumblebee.
The study, published by the Government’s conservation agency Natural England, also warns that almost 1,000 native species - including the leatherback turtle and the pine martin - are under threat.
While a few “big, hairy and scary” animals such as bears and wolves were hunted to extinction, most vanished species have gone because of land management changes including the industrialisation of farming, habitat loss, persecution and pollution.
And even where species have not become extinct at a national level, many have disappeared from some parts of the country, leaving populations fragmented and more at risk from threats including storms and a changing climate, the report warned.
While some species are hanging on nationally, they are disappearing from parts of the country, with the West Midlands losing twites and marsh warblers.
But conservation efforts have reversed the fortunes of some species in the UK, with reintroductions of once-extinct wildlife including the red kite, now a common site near the M40 in Warwickshire, the large blue butterfly and the pool frog.
Action to improve habitat for species such as bitterns, sand lizards and the ladybird spider have also helped stem and reverse declines in those animals.
But with 943 English species listed on the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan because of the threats facing them, Natural England is calling for a “step change” in the way landscapes are managed to reverse the declines in the country’s biodiversity.
Natural England’s chief scientist Dr Tom Tew said the Lost Life report - drawing on records which in some cases dated back two millennia but came mostly from 19th century to the present day - was not a “story of unmitigated doom and gloom”.
But it did present a stark message about the state of England’s wildlife, he said.
“The message is clear: we are losing species at an alarming rate and many of our species are seriously threatened.”
He said species once described as “common”, such as common sparrows, common frogs and common toads, were no longer common.
