Kestrel population plunges by a third

One of the UK's most familiar birds of prey the kestrel has drastically declined in numbers a survey of British birds reveals. The latest Breeding Birds Survey shows that the number of kestrels which are often seen hovering over roads looking for small rodents plunged by 36% between 2008 and 2009. The collapse came on top of a long-term decline in which the kestrel population fell by a fifth between 1995 and 2008 according to the survey by the British Trust for Ornithology.Numbers had already fallen between the 1970s and 1990s � largely it is thought because intensive agriculture reduced the habitats of small mammals which the birds prey on � but the reasons for more recent declines are unclear.