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MartinHarper

Is this the title Keats would give to his well known ode if written today?

Over the last twenty years we have lost 60% of our nightingales in Britain, which means we are rapidly losing a wonderful, powerful and iconic voice of spring and summer.  Have you heard one this year yet?  If not, have a listen here - it will bring a smile to your face.  And go on, listen again.

With the Independent Panel on Forestry due to report tomorrow, I've designated this as woodland week on my blog. 

Yesterday, I alluded to the spiritual connection many of us have with woodlands, but today I wanted to focus on what's happening to our woodland wildlife such as the nightingale.

Our woodland wildlife is in trouble.

Recent national surveys have highlighted alarming declines in many specialist woodland species. Over the last forty years, Britain has lost more than 70% of specialist woodland birds, such as spotted flycatchers and lesser spotted woodpeckers.

Worryingly, it is not just our woodland birds that are in trouble. One in six woodland flowers is threatened with extinction and more than half of our specialist woodland butterflies have been lost since 1990. This is just a snapshot of a bigger problem.

Current evidence suggests that changes in the structure of our woodlands is a key factor. These changes are associated with increased deer browsing and a lack of woodland management - more than half of the woodland in the UK is not managed. We need to find ways to encourage the types of management that will help reverse these wildlife declines.  We are doing more research to find ways to halt and reverse these dramatic declines. Alongside this we are providing advice to woodland owners on ways to manage woodlands to help wildlife. 

For migrants, such as nightingale and wood warbler, there are other challenges: persecution during their migration and changes to land use on their wintering grounds.  We are doing what we can with our BirdLife partners and others to address these issues and I will return to this later in the year.  This week I want to remain focused on what we can do at home.

And tomorrow is a key moment.

The Independent Panel on Forestry will map out its vision for English woodlands.  Last year, the public used its voice and it was powerful - it made the UK Government sit up and take notice. This is what made me think of the nightingale - a powerful voice of nature.  And knowledge of its decline is a powerful wake-up call for all of us. 

There is a lot at stake as we debate the future of forests, including the very diversity of wildlife that makes them so special. I shall let you know what we think of the Panel’s report tomorrow.

Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)