Environment

British Cuckoo to be listed as endangered for the first time

by Amy Judd | April 9, 2009 at 12:52 pm

231 views | 20 Recommendations | 1 comment

The British Cuckoo is set to be listed as an endangered species for the first time ever, and scientists fear that the bird could disappear from British shores forever.

Usually thousands of the birds come to the UK from Africa to breed every year but recently the number of them flying to the UK are dangerously low, and according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) the numbers have dropped by 59 percent since the 1960s.

They are so rare now to see in the wild that they could be on the list as critically endangered in less than a month. Scientists say that fewer birds are making the trip because food and water is drying up in Africa and they cannot make the 6000 mile migration.

Dr David Noble, principal ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology, said global warming is making the arduous migration even more perilous.

He said: "It appears that Cuckoos are battling a whole host of factors which could be leading to their decline, they are being effected at both ends of their migration cycle.

"They could be declining in Britain as a knock on effect of drought in South Africa which is starving them of food and water as temperatures rise.

"The birds may then have to battle unpredictable weather conditions as they fly across the Sahara Desert, which is growing larger all the time as the planet heats up, to get to Britain."

There are now only about 10,000 to 20,000 breeding pairs making it to the UK every year.