Cornwall’s wildlife in danger says new report
ANUMBER of animals and birds are in danger of dying out in Cornwall, according to a new report.
The State of Nature Cornwall 2020 report shows that many species groups are in trouble; nearly half of terrestrial mammals are now found in fewer places in Cornwall than in the 1980s and nearly half of our breeding birds are in serious decline.
In 2019 the national State of Nature report gave the worrying news that since 1970, 41% of species have declined in abundance across the UK.
This led to talk of an ‘ecological emergency’ and calls for it to be tackled alongside the climate crisis.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust wanted to know if the same was true here in Cornwall, so teamed up with Cornwall Council and the University of Exeter and analysed a huge volume of local species and habitat data collected largely by volunteer ‘citizen scientists’.
The new report shows that species in decline include the badger (-51% since the ‘80s), weasel (-32%), skylark (-28%) chaffinch (-22%) and the wall butterfly (-68%). The kittiwake has seen a 57% fall in breeding pairs in part due to the altering climate.
Nearly half of terrestrial mammals are found in fewer places in the Duchy, while nearly half of breeding birds have declined and three-fifths of butterflies are found in fewer places. In the same period, 152km of hedgerow and Cornish hedge has been lost. Reported seal disturbance has more than doubled over the last nine years. There has also been a 30% decline in farmland bird species in Cornwall between 1994 and 2019.
While the report paints a gloomy picture, it does include some good news, detailing where concentrated conservation efforts have brought species back from the brink of local extinction such as the Cornish chough, water vole, cirl bunting and beaver.
Cheryl Marriott, head of conservation at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: “There are parts that make for difficult reading - Cornwall’s wildlife is in a bad way and continued species decline will inevitably lead to local extinctions. “But more positively, we did find that public appreciation of wildlife has surged during lockdown and we know from our work that together we can make a difference and bring nature back. That gives me hope we can still turn the situation around.”
The findings will be used by Cornwall Council in the Local Nature Recovery pilot they are delivering as one of only five national projects testing this new approach for nature, as set out in the Environment Bill.
Cornwall Council is asking residents to have their say on what is needed for nature’s recovery by completing a new Nature Recovery Plan survey on the Let’s Talk Cornwall website.
Dr Ilya Maclean from the University of Exeter added: “There is an opportunity for Cornwall to show real leadership in reversing species decline and I suspect the next few years will prove decisive. I am cautiously optimistic that with the right measures, and the right will, this can be achieved.”