The risk of extinction for birds in Great Britain

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, species priorities for bird conservation in the UK have been guided by the in-depth 'Birds of Conservation Concern' assessments. For other wildlife, priorities tend to be informed by measures of extinction risk, generated by the IUCN Regional Red List process. We carried out the first formal IUCN assessment for birds in Great Britain. Of the 234 regularly occurring species assessed, 100 (43%) had at least one population (breeding or non-breeding) that qualified as Threatened using the standard IUCN Red List criteria and categories. Of 282 separate assessments of breeding or non-breeding populations, 39% qualified as Threatened (8% Critically Endangered, 14% Endangered, 17% Vulnerable) with a further 10% classified as Near Threatened. Both Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus and Fieldfare Turdus pilaris were assessed as being Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) as breeding species. In addition, seven species were assessed as being already extinct (either Extinct or Regionally Extinct). The proportion of GB birds qualifying as Threatened was high compared with birds elsewhere in Europe and other taxonomic groups in GB.We believe that, if similar data were available, levels of extinction risk would be higher for other areas/taxa than is estimated currently.