Several animal species such as the bear, wolf, and beaver were exterminated in historic times, but others such as the fallow deer, rabbit, have been introduced.

More recently birds of prey have suffered at the hands of farmers protecting their stock and their game birds.

Under protective measures, including a law restricting the collecting of birds eggs, some of the less birds have been re-establishing themselves.

The country lies along the line of bird migrations, they have found town gardens, where they are often fed, a favourable environment. In London about 100 different species are recorded annually.

London also is a favourable habitat for foxes, which in small numbers have colonized woods and heaths within a few miles of the city centre.

There are few kinds of reptiles and amphibians — about half a dozen species of each — but they are nearly all plentiful where conditions suit them.

Freshwater fish are numerous; the char and allied species of the lakes of Cumbria probably represent an old group related to the trout that migrated to the sea before the tectonic changes that formed these lakes cut off their outlet. The marine fishes are abundant in species and in absolute numbers.

A variety of coastal life creates the favorable environment for different kinds of invertebrate organisms.