Landmark report shows UK wildlife’s devastating decline

Landmark report shows UK wildlife’s devastating decline

• World-leading study, State of Nature, finds no let-up in the decline of our wildlife, with one in six species at risk of being lost from Great Britain [1].
• State of Nature, the most comprehensive report on UK wildlife, also shows that the species studied have, on average, declined by 19% in the UK since monitoring began in 1970.
• Most of the important habitats for the UK’s nature are in poor condition, but restoration projects can and do have clear benefits for nature and people, as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The UK’s wildlife is continuing to decline according to a new landmark study published today. Already classified as one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries, nearly one in six of the more than ten thousand species assessed (16%) are at risk of being lost from Great Britain1.

However, this figure is much higher for some groups such as birds (43%), amphibians and reptiles (31%), fungi and lichen (28%) and terrestrial mammals (26%). Much loved species such as turtle dove, hazel dormouse, lady’s slipper orchid and European eel now face an uncertain future. There have also been declines in the distributions of more than half (54%) of our flowering plant species, with species such as heather and harebell being enjoyed by far fewer people.



“The State of Nature report is a stark reminder that politicians must not let nature drop down the agenda – there is far too much at stake.
Craig Bennett
chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts
turtle dove

turtle dove (c) Ben Andrew RSPB

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“The State of Nature report is a stark reminder that politicians must not let nature drop down the agenda – there is far too much at stake. We desperately need better policies that fund nature-friendly farming properly, end the poisoning of lakes and rivers, and create larger wild and more natural areas – including in towns and cities.  

“This next parliament will be the most important in my lifetime for nature and climate action. The clock is ticking towards the 2030 deadline by which point the UK Government has committed to protect at least 30% of land and sea for nature and to halve the risks posed by pesticides. Nature recovery is fundamental to tackling climate change and improving people’s lives – history will not be kind to politicians that ignore this truth.” 

State of Nature is the most comprehensive nature report covering the UK, its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. Working with leading professionals from over 60 research and conservation organisations, the report – following previous editions in 2013, 2016 and 2019 – uses the latest and best data from monitoring schemes and biological recording centres, collated by the incredible work of thousands of skilled volunteers, to provide a benchmark for the status of our wildlife.

Since 1970, the abundance of species studied has declined on average by 19%. However, we also know that before widespread monitoring began, the UK's biodiversity had already been highly depleted by centuries of habitat loss, unsustainable farming practices, development, and persecution.

As a result, due to human activity the UK now has less than half of its biodiversity remaining. The evidence from the last 50 years, presented in the State of Nature report, shows that the intensive way in which we manage our land for farming and the continuing effects of climate change, are the two biggest drivers of nature loss. At sea, unsustainable fishing and climate change are the major contributing factors.

Beccy Speight, the RSPB’s Chief Executive said “The UK’s wildlife is better studied than in any other country in the world and what the data tell us should make us sit up and listen. What is clear, is that progress to protect our species and habitats has not been sufficient and yet we know we urgently need to restore nature to tackle the climate crisis and build resilience. We know that conservation works and how to restore ecosystems and save species. We need to move far faster as a society towards nature-friendly land and sea use, otherwise the UK’s nature and wider environment will continue to decline and degrade, with huge implications for our own way of life. It’s only through working together that we can help nature recover.”

Many groups studied show worrying declines. More than half of plant species have decreased in their distribution (54%) as have 59% of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts). The distribution of invertebrates in the UK has also decreased on average by 13% since 1970, however there are much bigger declines in groups which provide important services such as pollination and crop pest control. The distributions of pollinator species, including bees, hoverflies and moths, have decreased by 18% on average, whilst those species providing pest control, such as the 2-spot ladybird have declined by more than a third (34%).

The State of Nature report also found that out of the assessed habitats which are important for wildlife, only one in seven (14%) were found to be in a good condition and only one in fourteen (7%) woodlands and a quarter (25%) of peatlands were assessed to be in a good ecological state. Due to habitat damage from fishing gear, none of the seafloor around the UK was found in good condition. However, restoration projects, such as for peatland and seagrass beds, are now underway to stem declines. Not only will restoring these habitats have clear benefits for nature and people, but they can also help us mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Despite recent moves towards more nature-friendly land and sea use, as yet only a fifth of farmland is now in agri-environment schemes with only some of that helping nature, just 44% of woodland is certified as sustainably managed and only half of fish stocks are sustainably harvested. While all three measures have improved markedly over the past 20 years, there is still a very long way to go. The best available information suggests that nature-friendly farming needs to be implemented at a much wider scale to halt the decline in farmland wildlife and must be considered alongside the triple challenge of responding to the climate and nature crises whilst still meeting people’s needs for food, energy, and fuel.

Optimistically the report also highlights where concerted wildlife conservation action has made a key difference to many species and habitats. For example, large-scale restoration projects, such as Cairngorms Connect - which covers 60,000 ha - benefits a suite of woodland dependent species.  In Lyme Bay Marine Protected Area the number of species increased markedly since trawling was banned in 2008. The RSPB's Hope Farm has demonstrated that food production can function alongside measures to benefit wildlife as breeding bird populations increased by 177% over a 12-year period.

Nature conservation works but the scale and ambition need to be rapidly ramped up to tackle, stop and reverse the declines demonstrated by State of Nature.

* State of Nature uses a multitude of data sets covering different geographic regions. References to Great Britain mean England, Scotland and Wales. References to the UK/United Kingdom mean England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

To download a full copy of the State of Nature 2023 report and to find out what you can do to help, visit www.stateofnature.org.uk.

You can also view the State of Nature press releases for England, Wales, Scotland and Northen Ireland.

Editor’s notes:

1. These species are examples of over 1500 species classed as at risk of extinction as a UK breeding species, based on the JNCC Red Lists assessed within the report.

  • The State of Nature (SoN) is a partnership of organisations that are directly involved with conservation evidence and/or conservation delivery, who work together on appropriate science and evidence-based products. The principal role of the SoN Partnership is to improve the collection, collation and efficient use of data from biodiversity recording and monitoring relevant to nature conservation in the UK and its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories: understanding the status and trends of species, habitats, sites and other environmental variables including those which drive changes in biodiversity, and the causes and consequences of changes in these.  
  • List of partners: A Rocha, Action for Conservation, Alderney Wildlife Trust, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC), Association of Local Environmental Records Centres (ALERC), Bat Conservation Ireland, Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), Biological Records Centre/CEH (BRC), Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, British Arachnological Society (BAS), British Bryological Society (BBS), British Dragonfly Society (BDS), British Lichen Society, British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Buglife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, CEDAR Centre for Environmental Data and Recording, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), Chester Zoo, Continuous Plankton Recorder, Earthwatch, Freshwater Habitats Trust, Friends of the Earth, iSpot (The Open University), James Hutton Institute, Jersey Government Department of the Environment, John Muir Trust, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Local Environmental Records Centre Wales, Mammal Society, Manx BirdLife, Marine Biological Association (MBA), Marine Conservation Society, MARINELife, National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust), National Forum for Biological Recording, National Trust, National Trust for Scotland, Natural England (NE), Natural History Museum, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), NatureScot, Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), Northern Ireland Marine Task Force, ORCA, People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), Plantlife, Plymouth University, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Scottish Environment Link, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Shark Trust, States of Guernsey, Ulster Wildlife Trust, University of Sheffield, Vincent Wildlife Trust, Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), Wildlife Trusts, Woodland Trust, WWF, Zoological Society of London (ZSL)
  • A number of organisations play a key role in running structured monitoring schemes for wildlife in the UK, providing the trends in abundance that underpin key State of Nature metrics. Date were provided by the Biological Records Centre from a number of recording schemes and societies. A full list of acknowledgements can be found on page 212 of the report.