More than a quarter of the UK’s birds are struggling to survive, with species including curlews and puffins now joining the at-risk list, according to a new report. Entries to the UK’s ‘red list’ of endangered birds – those in urgent need of conservation – have swelled to 67 species out of a possible 247. Since the last review in 2009, 15 new species have been added to the list,
which is reserved for species in danger of extinction or that have seen a sharp drop in population or habitat in recent years. The report comes from the RSPB, British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), together with UK government conservation agencies. The curlew, Europe’s largest and most distinctive wading bird, is among those added to the red list, with numbers falling 64 percent from 1970 to 2014. READ MORE
