25% of the world’s newly endangered birds are found on British territory

May 2008. Of eight species that have joined the ranks of the world's 190 most critically endangered birds, two of those are from just one tiny island belonging to the UK, following a revision of the Red List.

Gough Island

The Gough bunting and Tristan albatross are both restricted to Gough Island in the South Atlantic and now face a very high chance of extinction in the wild following predation by introduced house mice and, in the case of the albatross, long-line fishing too. The island also supports another five bird species facing a high or very high risk of global extinction.

Gough Island, which is smaller than Guernsey and a UK World Heritage Site, is part of the Tristan da Cunha group, a UK Overseas Territory. The house mice, which were accidentally released on the island in the nineteenth century, are predators on both the buntings and the albatross's chicks and literally eat them alive. The rodents also compete with the buntings for food.

Mice eradication the only hope

Dr Geoff Hilton, an RSPB scientist, said: "In the presence of house mice, the albatross and the bunting have no chance of survival. Things are getting worse and the only hope for these threatened birds is complete eradication of the mice."

The Overseas Territories Environment Programme, a joint initiative of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, has paid for a provisional study which suggests that the mice could be eradicated by dropping poison bait from helicopters. Other governments are already funding full rodent eradication programmes on much larger islands.

Dr Geoff Hilton added: "The feasibility study shows there is a glimmer of light showing that we might be able to fix this problem. The UK government has supported us in discovering the problem, in conducting the feasibility study, and now in finalizing our plan for the mouse eradication.

"The big question is whether they will take their international commitments seriously and do what the governments of New Zealand and Australia have done, and provide the money needed to fund the mouse eradication. If they don't, we won't be able to give two critically threatened species the lifeline they need.

The most important seabird colony in the world

"The world's greatest seabird island is being eaten alive, as the mice are likely to be affecting the fortunes of many seabirds on the island. Without help Gough Island will be likely to lose the majority of seabirds, not just those that are confined to the island."

Gough Island, which has been described as the most important seabird colony in the world, supports millions of pairs of seabird of several species. Apart from the Tristan albatross, the island also supports the entire world population of the rapidly declining Atlantic petrel and a good proportion of the newly-described northern rockhopper penguin, both of these species are listed as Endangered in this year's Red List revision.

Red list revision 

The revision of the Red List shows that there are now 1,226 species of bird facing global extinction, and 32 of those occur on Overseas Territories belonging to the UK with more than half of these species occurring nowhere else in the world.

Curlew and Dartford warbler threatened

In the latest revision of the ‘Red List' by BirdLife International, the curlew and the Dartford warbler have been listed as Near Threatened, only one step below those species facing global extinction. Today's additions swell the numbers of nesting Near Threatened birds in the UK to five; joining the red kite, corncrake and black-tailed godwit on the list of birds facing potential peril.