Defra welcomes encouraging signs for wild bird populations

Statistics released today show encouraging increases in many wild bird populations between 2007 and 2008.  This good news follows a period of decline over the last two or three years, but Wildlife Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies has warned against complacency.

The wild bird population figures, published by Defra, show that UK wild bird numbers overall have risen slightly, with small increases between 2007 and 2008 in numbers of breeding woodland birds, water and wetland birds, and farmland birds.  Seabirds have decreased in number slightly, but overall are at higher levels than in 1970.

Huw Irranca-Davies said:

"There are positive signs for our wild bird population, but we still have a lot of work to do.  The population of farmland bird numbers in England has increased by four per cent in England between 2007 and 2008.  This is really encouraging and something that we hope will help tackle a downward trend in farmland bird numbers since 1970.  In July this year Hilary Benn announced a voluntary agreement with farmers to recapture the benefits of set-aside and changes have been made to the Environmental Stewardship Programme to ensure that this population growth continues in the years to come.

"We must keep doing all the things that have contributed to these modest increases.  Conservation organisations, land managers, farmers and individuals who care about birds all need to do their bit to ensure we encourage birds to flourish so that we see a repeat of these increases next year."

The findings, reported in the Wild Bird Populations 2008 Report, include:

• An overall ‘all bird species' index for the UK (114 species) increased by three per cent from 1970 to 2008. 

• The breeding farmland birds index for the UK (19 species) showed a one per cent increase between 2007 and 2008.  However, it was 47 per cent lower in 2008 than its 1970 level.

• The breeding woodland birds index for the UK (38 species) showed a seven per cent increase in woodland bird populations between 2007 and 2008.  This figure is 14 per cent lower in 2008 than its 1970 level, with the greatest declines occurring in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

• The breeding water and wetland birds index for the UK (26 species) shows a six per cent increase in the breeding water and wetland birds index between 2007 and 2008.  This is one per cent higher in 2008 than its 1975 level.

• The breeding seabirds index for the UK (19 species) decreased by one per cent between 2007 and 2008.  It is now 27 per cent higher than its 1970 level. 

Defra Press Release

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This Autumn 2009 News artile was created on 3rd November 2009

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