10 Percent of UK Wildlife Is Endangered: State of Nature Report

Around 60 percent of the British animal as well as plant species declined in last 5 decades, leaving one out of 10 species to disappear revealed the latest State of Nature report. The State of Nature report is compiled together by 25 wildlife organisations, which include RSPB and British Lichen Society. The report assembles assessments of 3148 species, while also hinting towards 59000 species of UK.

The species in which largest declines were observed included hedgehogs, turtle doves, red squirrels and water voles. The report indicated that there were various reasons for the decline in these species but major factors were habitat degradation and rising temperatures.

The worst affected are the species which require specific habitat, but are not able to adapt in accordance with the changing environment of the country.

Naturalist Sir David Attenborough launched this report and explained that though the species of UK were in trouble but there is a huge network of conversation groups that will help in preservation of these species.

The State of Nature report extracts data from individual reports which were published in the recent past and explained the positions of mammals, moths, bees and birds of UK. The report revealed gaps in certain data, primarily marine species, invertebrates and fungi, but also additionally offered expertise in marine conservation and moss conservation.

Formerly, threatened plants and animals which were considered as the priority species were included in the Biodiversity Action Plans of the UK government in order to target and formalize the conservation actions.

The State of Nature report also indicated the watchlist which explains how the populations of these species fell in past 5 decades. Conservationists explained that it was difficult to provide the definitive list of most endangered species of UK because of complexities involved in comparison of different species.

However, following species from 10 diverse groups of UK were highlighted:

• Turtle Doves
• Hedgehogs
• Small Tortoise
• Shell Butterfly
• Natterjack Toad
• European Eel
• Early Bumblebee
• V-moth
• Corn cleavers
• Harbour Seals
• Bastard Gumwood