The EU’s bird population has shrunk by 600 million since 1980

According to a new scientific study published by the Hellenic Ornithological Society, from 1980 to 2017, the number of breeding birds in the EU has decreased by about 600 million people. This is a reduction of 17-19%, or in other words, in 37 years, one in six birds in Europe has been lost. “Nature means alarm. “It is imperative that we tackle the environmental and climate crisis together, through support for agri-environmental programs, species protection, sustainable forestry and fisheries and, of course, the expansion of the network of protected areas.”

The general decrease in bird populations presented by the study is mainly attributed to the significant decrease in common species. As unbelievable as it may seem, the largest population decline in Europe concerns our common house sparrow, a species that records losses of 50%, having decreased, since 1980, by 247 million people! The decline is observed in both rural and urban populations of sparrows and, although the causes of this dramatic decline are not entirely clear, the main factors are considered to be lack of food due to loss of suitable habitats, air pollution and some air pollution.

Out of the long list of 175 species that are declining, eight species have been declared as the big “lost” (house sparrow, yellow squirrel, starling, wheatgrass, shrub, scarecrow, phantom, tree sparrow) representing 69% representing

Comparing population trends by habitat species, the most significant losses are recorded in species of rural and grassland ecosystems. As other research has shown in the past, changes in agricultural practices are largely responsible for the sharp decline in the 1980s and 1990s, and a slowdown in the last decade. Other species that show a proportionate decrease are also long-distance migrants, such as the yellow-tailed deer and the shrub, as well as some species of seabirds.

Of the 378 species surveyed, 203 are on the rise, most notably the black cap, the woodpecker, the blackbird, the porcupine, the goldfinch, the robin, the façade and the blue-eyed. The reasons that have led to these growth trends are not easy to interpret.
In some cases, the improvement may be related to climate change. For example, species such as the hedgehog seem to benefit from the milder winters we have experienced in recent years, while other species may have recovered due to their adaptability to anthropogenic environments.

It is noted that the ornithological data of the research were drawn from the reports that the Member States are obliged to submit to the EU in the context of the implementation of the Birds Directive, as well as from the Pan-European Monitoring Program for Common Bird Species, coordinated by the Hellenic Ornithological Company.

The survey was conducted by BirdLife International and the Ornithological Organizations of Britain and the Czech Republic.

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