Yellow Wagtail
Surfbirds News: RSPB Archives
59 birds
, up from 26 when the first Biodiversity Action Plan list was published in 1995.
Making it to the new list are familiar garden birds, including the house sparrow and starling, whose populations have declined by more than half over the last 25 years. Other additions include rapidly-declining woodland birds, like the lesser spotted woodpecker, and declining long-distance migratory birds, including the cuckoo and yellow wagtail.
Yellow Wagtail, the UK population has dropped by more than 50% in the past 25 years.
Cambridgeshire, April 2007 © Peter Beesley
Welcoming the publication of the new list, the RSPB's conservation director, Dr Mark Avery, said: 'Over the last 12 years, the BAP system has helped everyone focus attention on priority species. To its credit, we have seen dramatic increases in key species, like bittern, stone-curlew, corncrake, nightjar, cirl bunting and woodlark.
'However, the fact that the bird list now includes more than a fifth of all of the UK's regularly occurring birds is a cause of alarm, especially as the list now includes a number of woodland birds and summer visiting birds like the cuckoo.
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