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Ornithology

British birds by number

Nature volume 404, pages 559–560 (2000)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 11 May 2000

So far, about 1.5 million different species of plants and animals — or, more strictly, eukaryotes — have been named and recorded. No one really knows how many different eukaryote species may be alive on Earth today; defensible estimates range from 3 million to 100 million or more.

But we know a lot about birds. They tend to be around during the day, fairly conspicuous, and often pretty or doing interesting things (or both). Globally, the recorded total of living species, close to 10,000, is almost surely within a couple of per cent of the true total. And we know a lot about British birds in particular. Britain is a small, densely populated country, with a long tradition of public enthusiasm for natural history (especially from energetic clergymen). One contemporary measure of British affection for things avian is that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has around one million members, whereas hedgehogs (top of the non-domesticated mammals) only attract around 10,000 friends. There are no societies to express public goodwill towards nematodes.

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Figure 1: Under surveillance.

RSPB IMAGES

Notes

  1. *The State of the UK's Birds 1999 by R. D. Gregory, D. G. Noble, L. H. Campbell and D. W. Gibbons. Available at no charge from Dr R. D. Gregory, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, UK. http://www.rspb.org.uk

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK

    Robert M. May

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Correspondence to Robert M. May.

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May, R. British birds by number. Nature 404, 559–560 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35007184

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