MANY countryside birds are undergoing sweeping changes and ‘plummeting population declines’, the latest State of the UK’s Birds report reveals.

The British Trust for Ornithology report looks at the UK’s 107 most popular bird species and of these, 16 have declined by more than one third, including whinchat, wood warbler, starling, cuckoo, lapwing and willow tit.

The RSPB’s Dr Mark Eaton said: “I think many of us have been shocked by how poorly some of our most familiar species are faring. Over two decades, many of these species have ebbed away.”