THREATENED UK SPECIES OF EXTINCTION

DORMOUSE

Experts declared that hundreds of thousands of these rare animals had been lost because forests get cut up for roads, railways or changed into fields

The dormouse lives in the trees and cannot move on open ground to get to another forest because of predators.

Luckily there is help from Japan. They developed a dormouse bridge. It is a mesh tunnels which help the dormouse to travel to another tree across a road or railway.

TOADS AND FROGS

Toads and Frogs habitat are being destroyed because farmers closing ponds and use easily maintained troughs.

Natterjack toads lost 75 per cent during the past century. Since the 60s the great crested newt’s loss in Britain is 60 per cent.

Farmer asking for more help to provide the habitat to help recovery.

It would also help if people put a pond in their garden.

BUMBLEBEE

Bumblebee have greatly declined in recent years due to intensive farming. Their favourite a meadow was changed into o grazing grass or crops.

Since the 1940s the UK have lost 90 per cent of meadows which caused the biggest decline of the bumblebee. Two species are extinct.

It also does not help the heavy use of pesticides.

According to the experts those little pollinators contribute an unbelievable estimated £400million to the UK economy.

Farmers are becoming aware of the damage they have done and doing now more to bring them back.

It would also help if people plant bee-friendly flowers in their gardens.  All the gardens put together cover more ground than farms and parks.

BUTTERFLIES

Butterflies are another species loosing the fight for survival all due to the reason as mentioned in the above bumblebee report.

In the decade only, a massive 72 per cent of butterflies had been lost and some species been extinct.

HEDGEHOG

Another disgraceful record from the experts. The number of 36 million estimated 50 years ago had dropped to under 1 million.  If this continues the hedgehog could be extinct within 10 years.

The loss of rough grassland had a great impact but also in urban areas garden fences are dug deeper and therefore stops the hedgehog to travel from one garden to the other. Hedgehogs are great travellers to find their worms and again pesticides which kill worms and slugs adding to loss to hedgehogs.

If the hedgehog cannot move from garden to garden it will go out onto the road and many are killed.

A new scheme which ask people to dig hp;es under their fences to help hedgehogs to travel.

OTTERS

The industrial revolution has a lot to answer for the decline in otters.  It counts to a 90 per cent loss since it kills off their food and habitats.

Otters moved to the North and West of the UK since the beginning of the last century.

After a clean-up of the polluted waterways they seem to return and exist in every county of the country.

However, more has to be done to bring back the population of otters.  There has to be more uncut riverbanks and to improve underground road crossing for them.

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