Green and Pleasant Land: how do we stop nature’s decline?

Forty-four million birds gone from our skies, 70 per cent of butterflies in decline, the hedgehog population slashed from 36 million in 1950 to just 1 million today.

These are the stark findings in a special report on the British countryside – Green and Pleasant Land – airing on Channel 4 News tonight at 7pm.

Read more: Britain's best loved species in terminal decline?

The RSPB has gone as far as saying British wildlife is “in crisis”. So what can be done?

We debated this via a Google Hangout live debate today, trying make sense of the shock figures via a panel of experts, our science editor and the reporter who made the findings in tonight’s film.

Watch the hangout and see what our experts had to say above.

Guests:

Tom Clarke – Channel 4 News science editor
Rachel Seifert – Green and Pleasant Land reporter
Grahame Madge, media officer, RSPB
Michael Way, head of collecting and network support at Kew Gardens
Les Stocker, Tiggywinkles founder