Extinction of a species within the UK is now a rare event. The UK Biodiversity Action Plan was published in 1995 and included a list of priority species and habitats for which urgent conservation action was required.
In 1999, 2002 and 2005 reports were published on the progress made on these priorities. These reports included actions to be taken and an update on the status of the priority species. In 2002, one species, the Starry Breck Lichen (Buellia asterella), was reported as having become extinct, and two UKBAP priority species, the pool frog and interrupted brome, were reported to have been lost. Both the pool frog and interrupted brome have since been re-introduced. Although both re-introduction projects are at an early stage and there is some way to go before the species are successfully re-established, effectively their extinction has been reversed.
This is the only evidence we have of a UK species becoming extinct within the last 10 years. It is also worth noting that the Pashford pot beetle (Cryptocephalus exiguus), another priority species, has not been found at its known localities for a number of years but this is not thought to represent sufficient evidence of extinction yet.
In terms of non-priority species, we cannot be certain that there have been no extinctions because some species have never been named and others are recorded extremely infrequently.
DEFRA has not benchmarked the loss of species because there is no easily accessible source of information on extinctions for other countries. The cost of obtaining the information would far outweigh the benefits we could gain from it.