British birds 'being pushed past limits'

CONSERVATIONISTS have warned that British birds are being “pushed past their limits” as official figures showed ongoing declines in species in all habitats.

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Data from the Environment Department (Defra) shows severe declines for farmland birds, with populations tumbling 62% since the 1970s and 11% in the past five years alone, with species such as turtle doves, grey partridges, tree sparrows and starlings particularly struggling.

Seabird populations across the UK have seen a sharp drop in numbers in the past five years of around 15%, with populations falling by 37% overall since the 1980s, with conservationists warning of the impact of bird flu on top of a “cocktail of growing pressures”.

The UK’s woodland birds have seen populations fall by around a third (32%) over the long term, and have continued to decline in recent years in England by around 6%, while breeding water and wetland birds have seen falls of around 11% in England since the 1970s.