The risk of extinction for birds in Great Britain

t Over the last 20 years,species priorities for bird conservation in the UK \nhave been guided by ‘Birds of Conservation Concern’ – an in-depth assessment \nmade possible by the top-class data available on the status of the UK’s birds. For \nother wildlife, priorities tend to be informed by measures of extinction risk, \ngenerated by the IUCN Regional Red List process.We carried out the first formal \nIUCN assessment for birds in Great Britain. Of the 241 species assessed, 100 (43%) \nhad at least one population (breeding and/or non-breeding) that qualified as \nThreatened using the standard IUCN Red List criteria and categories. Of 289 \nseparate assessments of breeding or non-breeding populations, 39% qualified as \nThreatened (8% Critically Endangered, 14% Endangered, 17% Vulnerable) with a \nfurther 10% classified as Near Threatened. Both Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus and \nFieldfare Turdus pilaris were assessed as being Critically Endangered (Possibly \nExtinct) as breeding species, in addition to seven species that are already extinct \n(either Extinct or Regionally Extinct). The proportion of GB birds qualifying as \nThreatened was high compared with birds elsewhere in Europe and other \ntaxonomic groups in GB. We believe that, if similar data were available, levels of \nextinction risk would be higher for other areas/taxa than is currently estimated.