How fares British biodiversity? Not too well. Progress is measured via indicators, and new government figures show that, since 2000, seven of about 30 are going backwards, 13 show some improvement, and 10 show little change.

Actually, it's worse than that. Six of the species on the UK biodiversity action plan have been lost since the list was first published in 1994, and in 2007 (the most recent date) butterfly populations had their second worst year since records began. Moreover, more than half of habitats are deteriorating, compared with just 20% improving.

• Eco Soundings is our regular bite-sized blog series. It appears every Wednesday in the Guardian newspaper