Last week was rather full of pretty grim conservation news, especially from Defra. who have just published their annual trends in wild bird populations in the UK. A neat summary can be found on the RSPB blog written by Dr Mark Eaton, Principal Conservation Scientist, RSPB Centre for Conservation Science. Basically, not good reading if you are a farmland bird. But there is a lot of interesting detail behind the downward-trending graphs, with quite a few birds undergoing remarkable population increases.
Earlier in the week, the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) added Atlantic puffins, European turtle doves, Slavonian grebes and
pochards are now on the Red List of Threatened Species for birds. This means the number of UK species on the critical list has doubled to eight. UK puffins are not doing too badly, it is further north in Iceland and Norway where they in trouble.
On a more positive note, a great new blog has started up all about waders. Its called WaderTales. Brace yourself for some bad news about dotterels but read on for some fascinating posts about black-tailed godwits, woodcock, amongst others.
Nature in the Heart of England: A personal view of nature at the junction of Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire - also known as "Banburyshire". Sometimes further afield too!
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