New Wales Birds of Conservation Concern lists: 60 species on the Red List which has doubled in length in 20 years.
Published today, the latest assessment of the status of all 220 species of bird that regularly occur in Wales – Birds of Conservation Concern 4 – shows that 60 species are now of ‘highest conservation concern’ and have been placed on the assessment’s Red List.
The newly revised Welsh Red List now includes familiar bird species such as the Swift, Greenfinch and Rook, that have been added for the first time.
The report - published by a coalition of Wales’ leading bird conservation and monitoring organisations1 - places 60 species on the Red List, 91 on the Amber List and 69 on the Green List. Worryingly, the Red List now accounts for more than one-quarter (27%) of Welsh species, more than ever before.
Most of the species were placed on the Red List because of severe declines, having halved in numbers or range in Wales in recent decades. Others remain well below historical levels or are under threat of global extinction. Since the previous assessment, Corn Bunting and Corncrake have been declared extinct as breeding birds in Wales.
A number of species have jumped straight from Green to Red. The rapid decline in numbers of breeding Rooks and of wintering Purple Sandpipers in Wales, and the deteriorating global status of Leach’s Petrel, means that they have jumped from Green to Red since the 2016 assessment.
Another concern found in the report is the placing of Swifts on the Red List and House Martin on the Amber List for the first time. This could reflect the availability of nesting habitats and food for the species available food for them such as air-borne insects or conditions in wintering areas of these migrants.
More on:
Posted On: 07/12/2022