Half of Britain and Ireland’s native plants have declined over 20 years – study

Non-native species are now more numerous in wild – with implications for native insects

Half of Britain and Ireland’s native plants have declined over the past 20 years, with non-native species now more numerous in the wild, a major study has found.

Thousands of botanists from the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI)have spent the past 20 years collecting data on changes in the British and Irish flora.