Puffins and turtle doves 'facing extinction'

Puffins and turtle doves are now more endangered than the humpback whale after numbers have plummeted due to harsh winters, says a new report.

The British birds have been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List, bringing the number of UK endangered birds to eight.


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They have been listed as vulnerable to extinction, the lowest of three categories behind critically endangered and endangered.

Another 14 species in Britain are considered as Near Threatened, meaning the next step would be the Red List if numbers decline further.

According to the BBC, Martin Harper, conservation director with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), said the "global wave of extinction is now lapping at our shores".

He added: "The erosion of the UK's wildlife is staggering and this is reinforced when you talk about puffin and turtle dove now facing the same level of extinction threat as African elephant and lion, and being more endangered than the humpback whale."

According to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, as well as harsh winters making breeding difficult, reasons for the decline include a recent reduction in the population of puffins' prey, such as the sand eel, and their vulnerability to pollution like oil spills.

The Daily Telegraph reports that turtle dove numbers have plunged 96 per cent since 1970, making it the UK's fastest declining migrant bird.

The site adds that there are fewer than 14,000 breeding pairs today compared with 125,000 three decades ago.