English

A guide to more than 100 of Britain’s arable plants says flowers that were once common are now rare sights because of increasingly intensive farming methods. Those species most at risk in Scotland include shepherd’s needle Scandix pecten-veneris, which is fast disappearing in East Lothian, pink dianthus, geranium and yellow globe flower Trollius europaeus. Other species, such as corncockle Agrostemma githago, are already considered to be extinct in Britain. Also threatened are common poppies, corn marigold and cornflower. Wildflower experts said farmers were using increasing amounts of pesticides and other chemicals, cutting back hedges and filling in boggy areas where plants thrived. This has also had a knock-on effect on bees, butterflies and birds further up the food chain.

Populations of wild birds in the UK are falling dramatically. Only seabird populations remain comfortably above 1970 levels, while farmland bird numbers continue to plunge to half those of 40 years ago. The long term decline of farmland birds in England has been driven mainly by the decline of those species that are restricted to or highly dependent on farmland habitats (the ‘specialists’). Most of the farmland specialists have declined since 1970, with five, Grey Partridge Perdix perdix, Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur, Starling Sturnus vulgaris, Tree Sparrow Passer montanus and Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra having declined by over 80 per cent. Populations of one of the farmland generalists (of those species found on farmland and other widespread habitats), the Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava, have declined by over 70 per cent since 1970. The long term decline of woodland birds in England was mostly driven by the decline of specialist woodland birds (those restricted to or highly dependent on woodland habitats). Nine of the woodland specialists have at least halved since 1970, with seven species, Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix, Willow Tit Parus montanus, Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis, Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata, Lesser Redpoll Carduelis cabaret, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor and Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos having declined by over 70 per cent relative to 1970. Five woodland specialists, Marsh Tit Parus palustris, Nightingale, Spotted Flycatcher, Tree Pipit and Willow Tit declined by over 20 per cent between 2004 and 2009. Populations of five woodland generalists - Blackbird Turdus merula, Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula, Dunnock Prunella modularis, Song Thrush Turdus philomelos and Tawny Owl Strix aluco, have also declined relative to 1970.

The State of Birds in Wales 2010 report, published on 11 April 2011, shows that several bird species in Wales are declining at an alarming rate. The study is joint publication by RSPB Cymru, the Welsh Ornithological Society, Countryside Council for Wales, the British Trust for Ornithology and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. The report shows that numbers of some farmland and woodland birds have crashed by up to half since 1994. For example, Starlings Sturnus vulgaris have decreased by 58 per cent, Curlew Numenius arquata by 46 per cent and Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella by 40 per cent. Many of Wales’s breeding birds are falling. European Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria numbered several hundred breeding pairs in the 1970s; this had decreased to just 36 by 2007. If this decline has continued, the species is officially a rare breeding bird (less than 30 breeding pairs). Both Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra and Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur are declining, with neither species recorded breeding every year. Regular breeding species suffering significant falls in numbers include: Cuckoo Cuculus canorus (37 per cent), Common Swift Apus apus (52 per cent), Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis (29 per cent), Goldcrest Regulus regulus (41 per cent) and Linnet Carduelis cannabina (32 per cent).

Numerous surveys reveal high levels of pesticide residue contamination in honey bee comb. We conducted studies to examine possible direct and indirect effects of pesticide exposure from contaminated brood comb on developing worker bees and adult worker lifespan.

A first field study was conducted to investigate the possible adverse effects that seeds dressed with neonicotinoid insecticides pose to honeybees during sowing. It was observed that in the exposure hives bee mortality increased on the day of sowing and that the number of foraging bees decreased the days after the sowing. The corn sowing posed a significant threat to honeybees, with thiamethoxam being the most probable toxic agent. A theoretical contact exposure was calculated for a bee when flying over the sown fields, revealing a dose of 9.2 ng bee−1 close to the contact LD50 of thiamethoxam.

In late April and early May 2008 a bee mortality occurred in parts of South-West Germany, which affected approximately 12,000 colonies of bees, some of them substantially. Immediately after this became known, an intensive search for the causes of these incidences was started. Very soon, maize seeds which had been treated with the insecticidal substance clothianidin were suspected as a possible cause. Only two weeks later a clothianidin poisoning was confirmed.