LONDON, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Climate change is affecting the number and kinds of birds in Britain, according to the report the State of U.K. Birds 2004.
The report by the environmental groups the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, English Nature and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust said there has been a 6 percent increase in the combined populations of 111 widespread bird species since 1970 -- but for every 10 pairs of birds living in farmland in 1970, fewer than six remain today.
The population of wintering ducks, geese, swans and wading birds has dropped to its lowest level in 10 years, the report found.
Milder winters were cited as a possible cause for an increase in some farmland birds, like the song thrush and tree sparrow, the BBC reported Friday.
Birds have been nesting earlier and migrating birds have been arriving earlier, the report said.
"The impacts of climate change are already evident on the (United Kingdom's) bird populations and the RSPB remains concerned that within our lifetimes these changes are likely to become ever more marked," said Mark Avery RSPB conservation director.
