According to official statistics, the UK has lost nearly one-ninth of its wild birds since 1970, making the sight and sound of birds on the wing and in-flight increasingly rare.
The latest figures from the Department of the Environment indicate that migratory bird species in the United Kingdom have decreased by 12% between 1970 and 2021.
Some bird species have experienced a 90 percent decline.
10% of 1970 turtle dove, capercaillie, lesser whitethroat, willow tit, grey partridge, tree sparrow, and spotted flycatcher populations.
Several species of birds, including the Cetti’s warbler, blackcap, vulture, great spotted woodpecker, red kite. And collared dove, have increased “several-fold,” according to the report.
The British Trust for Ornithology, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee monitors more than 500 breeding pairs of approximately 130 species of migratory birds.
The decline is driven by sharp declines in the populations of farmland birds and woodland birds.
While the overall decline was 12% below 1970, arable birds were 44% lower, woodland birds were 34% lower, water and wetland birds were 11% lower, and upland birds were 8% lower, according to the report.
The figures do not include the number of seabirds. Because they have not been updated since 2019 due to the Covid restrictions in effect during the lockdown.
However, according to the report, seabird populations were 24% lower in 2019 than in 1986.
According to the report, the decline in avian populations is an indication that nature is suffering.
“Bird populations have long been regarded as a reliable indicator of the overall state of wildlife in the United Kingdom.
This is because they inhabit a diverse array of habitats and respond to environmental pressures that also affect other species.
24 percent of species increased between 2015 and 2020, while 28 percent exhibited little change and 48 percent decreased.
The number of house sparrows has decreased by 70 percent since 1970, among garden-frequented avian species.
