Buy British to save our native wildlife
WILDLIFE from red squirrels to earthworms and juniper trees are among those most at risk from invasive species, conservationists have warned.
Experts are calling for strict Government plant import restrictions and want gardeners to “buy British” to avoid bringing in new invasive species that could threaten more of Britain’s nature.
Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of nature groups, has released a list of the 10 native species it considers most at risk from invasive plants, animals and fungi through disease, competition or being eaten.
The list contains well-known species such as the red squirrel, which has suffered a 96% drop in numbers since its grey cousin was introduced from America in the 19th century, and water voles, lost from 94% of their range due to predation from American mink escaping fur farms.
It includes the common earthworm being preyed on by New Zealand flatworms introduced to the UK through imported potted plants, soils and compost, and the freshwater shrimp, which is under threat from “killer shrimp”.
Native oysters, white-clawed crayfish, depressed river mussels and even Manx shearwaters – whose populations are threatened by brown and black rats on their island homes – are also on the list of those most at risk.
Juniper – one of the UK’S rarest trees and a key ingredient in gin – is threatened by the fungus-like pathogen Phytophthora austrocedri while ash trees are being hit by ash dieback caused by a non-native fungus.
Both are thought to have arrived through the plant trade and the conservationists warned horticulture is a key route for importing non-native species, including fungi, flatworms, ants and slugs on soil and plants.
A host of species are already established in the UK via plant or soil imports and doing harm, including Spanish slugs – known as “super slugs” – which are voracious eaters of garden plants, crops and wildflowers and are too slimy for hedgehogs and birds, and resistant to poisons, the experts said. Red lily beetles, harlequin ladybirds and oak processionary moths wreak damage while species such as emerald ash borer beetles, twoleaf water milfoil plants and Asian hornets are athreat.
From next month, all trees funded under Government treeplanting schemes will need to meet new biosecurity requirements to help tackle the threat, but the conservation groups are pleading with ministers to go further to protect our native wildlife.
The new biosecurity requirements should be extended to all trees and potted plants entering the country while imported timber, soil and compost should be heattreated to eradicate harmful hitchhikers and plants should be transported soil-free, they said.