Thu 17 Dec 2020 02.00 EST
The willow tit has become Britain’s fastest declining resident bird, and one of half a dozen imperilled woodland species, according to the definitive survey of the country’s birds.
Numbers of the diminutive tit, a subspecies unique to the UK, have plummeted by 94% since 1970, and by a third since 2008.
The willow tit, which lives in dense birch thickets close to wetlands or water, has almost entirely vanished from south-east England and now survives mainly in post-industrial sites such as former coalmines, north-east of Derbyshire.
Woodland birds have slumped by 27% since the 1970s and are continuing to dramatically decline, falling by 7% over the past five years, according to the new report. The breeding populations of five rare forest-dwelling species – lesser spotted woodpecker, lesser redpoll, spotted flycatcher, capercaillie and marsh tit – are now less than a quarter of what they were 50 years ago.