Why doesn’t the RSPB do anything to help the Atitlan grebe, the Mauritius night heron or the Tahiti rail? Why does our international conservation department not launch any projects to save the Choiseul crested pigeon, the Jamaican red macaw or the impossibly named bishop’s o’o’?

The simple reason is that it’s too late for these birds – they have already gone. Conservation can only save what we have left – we can never bring back what we have lost. And if we forget them then we have failed to learn a vital lesson.

So that’s why I’m so excited about a remarkable exhibition taking place this month at the Rochelle School on Arnold Circus in London, a short walk from Liverpool Street station. Ghosts of Gone Birds features artworks based on extinct bird species by some of the UK’s top artists and illustrators including Sir Peter Blake, Ralph Steadman and Jamie Hewlett, the co creator of cartoon band Gorillaz. And it’s not just artists, there are also musicians on board from bands including Elbow, Doves and British Sea Power.

Those birds mentioned above are a few of the more obscure species featured in the exhibition, but some of the well known casualties of habitat loss and persecution include the great auk (represented on a knitted blanket created by the novelist Margaret Atwood), the passenger pigeon and, the most famous extinct bird of them all, the dodo.

We can conduct scientific surveys, write policy reports and lobby politicians but it is only when issues enter into the public consciousness that we can make a real difference. What better way to achieve that aim than through art, music and culture – a language we can all understand. 

But also, this is a poignant reminder that when a species is gone, it's gone for ever.  If ever there was a motivation to do more to prevent further extinctions, well, this is it.

Listen to Ralph Steadman and the exhibition’s organiser Ceri Levy on Radio 4's Today Programme this week or visit the Facebook page - www.facebook.com/ghostsofgonebirds