Winged Wake-Up Call on the Dorset Coast

  A Feathered Encounter on the Dorset Coast

  Tucked into the roof of the house, where I’m currently living on the Dorset coast, a feathered family is hiding. Every now and then, especially in the evening, I hear them stirring and offer quiet assurance - that their secret is safe with me. Since moving to Bournemouth in the summer of 2023, I have come to treasure the presence of wildlife, especially as birdsong. Three decades in London taught me that only the privileged few could wake up to a dawn chorus. During the spring months, here in beautiful Bournemouth, it was unusual to awaken without hearing at least one tiny maestro, tuning up in a nearby tree.

The Silent Decline of British Birds

  Nonetheless, our birds are facing widespread decline across species and habitats. Due to the potent concoction of climate change, habitat loss, agricultural practice, species-specific disease and policy shifts, the threats faced could amount to a perfect storm. One which vulnerable wildlife, particularly specialist species, won’t be able to weather without significant help.

  The Willow Tit and Wood Warbler have declined by 95% and 81% respectively, over the past 30 years. Turtle Dove numbers have decreased by 54% over 5 years, and avian flu eventually led to a 76% decrease in Great Skua numbers.

• The Marsh Tit has declined by 80% since the 1970s
• Since the ‘60s, Sparrow, Skylark, Song Thrush and Corn Bunting numbers have decreased between 50 to 90%
• Herring Gulls are now a Red List species
• Greater London has seen a 40% decrease in Blackbirds
• Our Purbeck Puffins and Kittiwakes are facing local extinction

  A gradual decline in insect populations doesn’t help. Neither does a wildfire, like that which ravaged 40 acres of Poole heathland in April this year. Hundreds of protected animals, including Dartford Warbler chicks were killed, and such landscapes take years to regrow. The Labour government’s proposed Planning and Infrastructure Bill could also threaten over 5000 ecologically sensitive sites across the UK, by allowing developers to bypass existing environmental safeguards. But, thankfully, it’s not all bad news.

   

 

Hope on the Horizon: Conservation Wins

  White-tailed Eagles, once rendered extinct in the UK, have made a comeback in Scotland. Due to conservation efforts like Operation Turtle Dove, Wild Woodbury Rewilding and Dorset Council’s ‘Love Your Verge’ campaign, many threatened birds and supporting species are offered measurable support for recovery. The only known breeding pair of Ospreys, in southern England, successfully reared a record four chicks in Poole in 2024. At Chesil Beach, human intervention increased Little Tern fledgling numbers from 3 in 2021 to 55-60 in just one year. And, Hengistbury Head Nature Reserve may now host more Skylarks per hectare than anywhere else in the country.

  So, concerted efforts can yield significant results, even over short periods. A county as stunning as Dorset is home to so much beauty and, in less than two years, I’ve come to treasure it. A few days after the heathland fire, deliberate destruction of a peregrine falcon nest, at St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire, also made the news. Fortunately, the pair laid a second clutch of eggs. I wish them, and all their kin, well and am secretly hoping it’s a sign. That, as we saw during the pandemic lockdowns, Nature is resilient enough to recover quickly and decisively, when given half a chance. Hopefully, I will continue to wake up to birdsong for many years to come.

How You Can Help

 If you’d like to learn more about how you can help protect local birds and wildlife, visit the RSPB — their resources and efforts across the UK are a great place to start.

Read also about why wetlands are important.

At Eco Natural Products, we believe every small action counts. Learn more about how we support biodiversity through sustainable living.

Resources:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/reverse-the-red
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2024/may/third-surveyed-uk-bird-species-declined-since-1990s.html
https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/news/dorset-council-celebrates-nature-friendly-verges-in-new-campaign
https://www.rspb.org.uk/media-centre/study-shows-role-of-bird-flu-in-widespread-declines-of-uk-seabirds
https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2018-06-28/debates/60194428-312E-412E-95CD-5FE7CEE1B85C/Songbirds
https://www.bto.org/learn/about-birds/birdfacts/herring-gull
https://www.swanage.news/gull-friends-needed-for-swanage-bird-survey/