At the end of this chapter will be found tables of species which are in decline or prospering. This obviously provides a somewhat simplistic view, but it is nonetheless reasonably accurate for the species listed. From these tables it will be clear that there are very worrying trends amongst woodland and farmland birds, many well-studied butterflies, moths, bumblebees and riverflies, and flowers of pasture, cornfield and coppiced woodland. In the following paragraphs I will try to discuss these declines and determine what they serve to predict for the future. I will also discuss the good news and try to strike the right balance between what is going well and what is not.

I spoke both in the Introduction and in Chapter 1 of our being currently involved in a mass wildlife extinction event. There are already some UK examples such as the demise of the large tortoiseshell butterfly and the burbot fish. And there are abundant signs of desperate declines in many other species. The most obvious declines at present in the fauna and flora of our islands are with woodland and farmland birds and with insects such as butterflies, moths, bumblebees and riverflies. These are all insect groups which are readily monitored, and it seems very likely that other less obvious insects are also not prospering, although their declines are harder to detect. If insects decline, it is likely that there will be knock-on effects on insectivorous vertebrates, and some of these effects are already noticeable with the declines of spotted flycatchers, starlings and house sparrows, and maybe swifts and willow warblers. So all the indications are there for the educated eye to see, the sharp declines in so many species, which will assuredly lead to numerous extinctions in the years to come.