Two species a year dying out in UK
19 April 2010
More than two species of plant or animal are being lost forever each year in the UK, according to the most complete audit yet carried out of Britain's endangered species.
The survey, carried out by Natural England, identified nearly 500 species of plant and animal which are no longer found in England. Most have disappeared in the last 200 years.
They include Mitten's beardless moss (Weissia mittenii), known from just six sites in Sussex and Surrey. It disappeared soon after 1920, an early casualty of agricultural encroachment. Other plants thought extinct in England include the native orchid summer lady's-tresses (Spiranthes aestivalis) and the creeping spearwort (Ranunculus reptans).
Hundreds more species were found to be seriously threatened, though there has been considerable progress in reversing their decline: nearly half of species placed on the Biodiversity Action Plan list in the 1990s are now showing stable or recovering populations.
'Species loss is not inevitable – we can do something about it,' says Tom Tew, Natural England's chief scientist. 'But we need to think ambitiously if we're to meet the needs of this and future generations.'
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