Creatures at risk - Images from Friends of the Earth

Shrill carder bee on Canvey Island, Essex © Steven Falk

One of over 250 species of bee in the UK, Bombus sylvarum is thought to be the UK’s rarest bumblebee. The shrill carder and other bees provide services worth around £1.8 billion a year by pollinating crops. 

Beavers in Britain
The water-loving tree surgeon has found its way to Devon after a 500-year absence from England's rivers. Beavers bring all sorts of benefits to their habitats – from flood defence to increasing fish stocks

Orca

The so-called killer whale is actually a dolphin. They're thought to be the most widespread mammal after humans, although some regional populations are at risk. The orca is a top predator and so vulnerable to the build-up of chemical contaminants in its tissues. The Wildlife Trusts are campaigning for 17 marine conservation hotspots around the world.

Brown hare, Cambridgeshire © Andrew Parkinson/2020VISION

Apart from the roads, aqueducts and sweet chestnut tree the Romans also gave us the brown hare. Once abundant, these stunning athletes declined in the 1960s and 70s in the face of agriculture, hare coursing and the increase in numbers of foxes. Today the population is thought to be stable at well over half a million individuals, and they’re a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

​Hen harrier, Blacktoft, England © Jonathan Bliss

Young males have grey eyes and young females have brown. This glorious predator has suffered such persecution in the past century that it's now on the RSPB's list of species needing the most urgent conservation action.

Hedgehog on a garden lawn, Midlands

There's an old belief that hedgehogs shake grapes from a vine and then roll on the fallen fruit, spearing them with their spines to carry them back to their young. It's not true – hedgehogs don't eat fruit. But they will gobble up the slugs in your garden. And that’s just one reason it's such a shame their numbers have crashed spectacularly – by some 80% in 50 years. According to one expert they're the most important species on the planet

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