Throughout the last Century, wildlife in Britain started to decline at alarming rates. Industrialisation, loss of habitat, hunting and pollution all caused the decline of some of Britain’s native creatures. The best chance you would have had of seeing some of the animals would have been an animal sculpture! But here are a few of the success stories, now making a comeback to the British Countryside…
Otters – Otter numbers started to decline in the 1960s and they were facing extinction by the 1970s. The pollution of the waterways saw very low numbers of otters all across the UK, so the chemicals responsible for this devastation were banned and the Environment Agency began a clean up of the waterways. Today, these secretive and endearing masters of the river, are one of Britain’s greatest success stories and have increased enormously in number all over the UK.
The Large Blue Butterfly – This is one of Britain’s rarest butterflies, and like the otter, was nearly extinct during the 1970s. These beautiful butterflies were reintroduced from Europe in 1979, which has been one of the UK’s most successful conservation projects, and now there are several colonies across the UK where you may be lucky enough to spot one on a hot summers day.
The Osprey – The Osprey was once completely on the brink of extinction – numbers had been reduced to just one breeding pair in Scotland. The Victorians had driven the birds to the brink, but with a lot of hard work from the Wildlife trusts across the country, there are now many places that it is possible to see these stunning birds.