Thread by @DanicaPriest

🚨 Are you a nature lover? 🚨

The government is pushing a planning and infrastructure bill that weakens environmental protections. But what does that actually look like?

The species at risk have real faces and names. Lets meet some of them 🧵

(Source: @WCL_News)

🐹Dormice🐹

shy and declining, reliant on ancient hedgerows, woodland and scrub. Their populations are fragmented, and they require well-connected habitats to thrive.

🐰Hares🐰

icons of the countryside, hares have declined by 80% since the late 19th century, largely due to intensive agriculture and loss of rough grassland.

🦭Seals🦭

Grey seal: rely heavily on UK coastlines, which support over a third of the global population, down from 50% just 25 years ago.

Harbour seals: They are vulnerable to disturbance and habitat degradation.

🐭Harvest mice🐭

Harvest mice, miniature and fragile, are vital to grassland ecosystems and in significant decline due to habitat fragmentation, shrinking in occupancy by an average of 2.8% each year.

🦔Hedgehogs🦔

Hedgehogs, a cherished emblem of British gardens, have seen populations fall by between 30-75% in rural areas since 2000.

🐝Bees🐝

Scabious mining bee: dependent on meadows which have declined by 97%

Shrill carder bee: Short foraging ranges make them vulnerable.

Six-banded Nomad Bee: this bee survives at just one known site If this habitat is lost to development, the species will vanish

🦦Otters🦦
Otters are highly territorial and difficult to relocate. They require extensive, unpolluted river systems with ample food. Habitat loss can lead to long-term population declines.

🦫Beavers🦫

the bill could put the reintroduction of the once extinct beaver at risk.

🦉Owls🦉

Barn owls, dependent on open countryside and barns for breeding.

Short-eared owls are in decline by as much as 50%. With a 48% contraction in breeding range

🌸Flowers 🌸

Lizard orchid only grow in certain areas and are hard to translocate.

Pasqueflower has a highly restricted range and only grows in 17 chalk and limestone grassland sites in England. It is incredibly difficult to re-establish once its habitat has been disturbed.

🐍 Reptiles 🦎

Sand lizards: found only in the UK's lowland heaths, have suffered up to 97% decline due to habitat loss.

Smooth snakes: Britain's rarest reptiles. Their specialised habitat requirements make them particularly vulnerable to habitat degradation.

🦋Butterflies 🦋

Declared extinct in the UK in 1979, the large blue butterfly has been reintroduced. Its survival depends on a symbiotic relationship with one ant species making its habitat requirements exceptionally specialized and difficult to replicate.

🪲Beetles🪲

Stag beetles have declined in many countries, primarily due to loss of decaying wood habitats.

Violet Click Beetle is restricted to three sites in the UK. The loss of any of its breeding trees could be catastrophic and cannot be mitigated.

Bats whose roosts cannot be simply "replaced", include:

🦇Barbastelles: one of the rarest mammals in Britain.

🦇Bechstein's bat: They are one of the UK's rarest bats partly due to loss of ancient woodlands. They are highly sensitive to habitat disturbance.

🐸Toads🐸
Natterjack toads: Their habitats are highly specific, and the loss of suitable breeding sites has led to significant population declines.

Common toad: severely affected by land use change. Common toads have declined by 68% over the last 30 years.

🐦Birds🐦

Red-backed shrike, once widespread, are now virtually extinct as breeders in the UK due to habitat loss and degradation.

🐟Fish🐟

Atlantic salmon:

declined by around 70% across the North Atlantic in a few decades. In Great Britain the species is endangered, having suffered a projected 50-80% decline between 2010-2025, driven by habitat loss, barriers to migration, and water pollution.

🕷️Spiders🕷️

Horrid Ground-weaver Spider is found nowhere else in the world but three quarries in Plymouth.
The loss of even one site could spell extinction. It is a S.41, species, but has no other protection.

🍄Fungi 🍄‍🟫

Oak Polypore, a rare bracket fungus that is a specialist of ancient and veteran oak trees. Protected in England on account of its highly-restricted distribution, with habitat loss and fragmentation listed among the primary reasons for its decline.

Why that are at risk:

This bill assume that species can and will colonise new habitats, but this is not possible for many protected species. Scientific evidence suggests that off-site approaches cannot work.
Therefore, a precautionary approach should be taken to prevent harm.

Many species exist only in a handful of known locations. For these, the loss of a single site can mean extinction.

The risk of creating "conservation voids" where sensitive species are displaced without realistic chances of survival or recolonisation is alarmingly high.

For some species, the EDP approach is ecologically indefensible. These include animals with highly restricted ranges and specialised habitats, which cannot be recreated at scale or speed:

These species cannot be traded away for mitigation elsewhere.

Once local populations are destroyed, they are unlikely to ever return. The rare habitats they depend on cannot easily be recreated.
Development needs to respect threatened species in their habitats as the starting point. The current bill fails to do this. This is very bad!

If the Government is serious about halting declines and preventing extinction, it must ensure that all threatened species, not just those officially designated, are identified, considered and protected in planning decisions.

Please share this thread far and wide! This issue needs greater awareness. Most MPs have no idea how bad this bill will be for nature. These animals fate is in their hands now.😭We need to ramp up the pressure so they do the right thing

Full report here: wcl.org.uk/assets/uploads…