IT’S not too late to save UK nature but we must act now - that is the conclusion from a coalition of more than 50 leading wildlife and research organisations behind the State of Nature 2016 report.

Following on from the groundbreaking State of Nature report in 2013, leading professionals from 53 wildlife organisations have pooled expertise and knowledge to present the clearest picture to date of the status of the UK’s native species across land and sea.

The report, launched at the Royal Society in London by David Attenborough, revealed that more than half (56 per cent) of UK species studied have declined since 1970, while more than one in 10 (1,199 species) of the nearly 8,000 species assessed in the UK are under threat of disappearing from our shores altogether.

One success story from the report however comes in the way of Farnham Heath.

Surrey has lost 90 per cent of its heathland over the past couple of centuries, but conservationists are working hard to turn this around, and it is Farnham Heath which has drawn great success from the restoration process.

More than 100 hectares of heathland at the reserve have been restored, and as a result the RSPB recorded breeding of the Dartford warbler for the first time this year.

Tim Webb from the RSPB said: “We were so chuffed to record the warbler. The site was planted-up with pines for the war effort in the 1940s, destroying the original heath and displacing the wildlife which had lived there.

“Heathland species like the Dartford warbler are now returning because we’ve removed the pines and continue to do so; fresh ones grow all the time from seeds lying in the soil.”

The restoration has not been purely a solo effort from the RSPB, which, over the last couple of months has received help from students at the Abbey School in Farnham.

Every Tuesday during the autumn and winter the school’s Duke of Edinburgh award-scheme group go out to the heathland to do their volunteering element, working alongside the RSPB’s normal volunteer group.

They are also giving everyone the chance to help with the restoration this Christmas, with the offering of their popular ‘Pull A Pine’ event.

It will involve people helping to clear young pine saplings, and being able to keep one to take home as a Christmas tree, with previous years seeing a whole host of families coming out to get their tree free of charge but also help with vital work on the Heath.

The work by the RSPB, volunteers and residents from around the area is massively important, with the South East historically holding some of the most important habitats for internationally threatened species, including lapwing, turtle dove and nightingale.

However, changes to land use, including urbanisation and intensive agriculture, mean that numerous species numbers have declined in the area.

With a large demand for housing in Surrey, the RSPB, which holds more than 30 nature reserves in the South East, works with local authorities to ensure that the needs of both people and wildlife are met, suggesting alternative sites for wildlife where developments can’t be avoided.

Organisations behind the State of Nature 2016 report believe now is the time for the government to make ambitious decisions and significant investment in nature to ensure year-on-year improvement to the health and protection of the UK’s nature and environment for future generations.

Sir David Attenborough said upon the release of the report: “The natural world is in serious trouble and it needs our help as never before.

“The future of nature is under threat and we must work together; Governments, conservationists, businesses and individuals, to help it. Millions of people in the UK care very passionately about nature and the environment and I believe that we can work together to turn around the fortunes of wildlife.”