More Welsh Birds in the Red
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The latest assessment of all of Wales’regularly occurring birds – Population Status of Birds in Wales 2 – shows 45 species are now of the highest conservation concern. Alarmingly, red-listed species now account for nearly a quarter of all of Welsh bird species. Some woodland birds have seen a dramatic decline with four species – wood warbler, willow warbler, pied flycatcher and lesser redpoll – moving from the green to red list.
Derek Moore, Chairman of the Welsh Ornithological Society, said: “Can you really imagine a Welsh hillside without the haunting song of Curlews? Can you envisage how empty an oak wood would be without the frantic song of Wood Warblers? It is essential that the Welsh Assembly Government be as convinced as we all are that much more must be done to arrest these declines. Once again the efforts of Welsh birdwatchers have, through this report, provided the evidence so valuable in being able to address the status of birds in Wales.”
Population Status of Birds in Wales 2 is compiled by RSPB Cymru, the British Trust for Ornithology, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Welsh Ornithological Society, Countryside Council for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government. The full paper will be published in Birds in Wales in September. Click here for full press release
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