Here comes the hoopoe! The birds fleeing Britain because of the changing climate - and the foreign legion to take their place

Over the next few decades, the changing climate will have driven away many species - and introduced others which have never been able to breed in the British Isles before.

Out go the osprey, black-throated diver, snow bunting and common scoter. In come the hoopoe, short-toed eagle and little bustard.

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Within 70 years, the tree creeper - a bird found in woodland and garden - will live only north of the Pennines.

The Scottish crossbill, a finch found only in the Caledonian forests, will vanish forever because its range will have moved to Iceland, where there are no suitable pine trees for it to live on.

The winners and losers are revealed in a report from experts at the universities of Cambridge and Durham and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The Climatic Atlas of European Breeding Birds predicts the effect of the expected increase in world temperatures of 2.5C over the next seven decades.

It shows that for the average bird species, the range will shift nearly 340 miles northeast - equivalent to the distance from Plymouth to Newcastle.

Birds which need colder weather will be driven from England into Scotland, while many of those able to thrive only in the northernmost parts of the British Isles will vanish.

The atlas estimates that three quarters of all Europe's nesting species will be affected.

Mark Avery, conservation director at the RSPB, said: "We must heed the wake-up call provided by this atlas.

"Some level of climate change is inevitable and we must help wildlife become resilient to the worst impacts by increasing investment in creating larger areas for nature and making the countryside more wildlife-friendly."

If the changes happen as predicted, the black-throated diver, snow bunting, capercaillie and dotterel will be left with few suitable breeding grounds.

However some birds currently confined to southern Europe, - such as the purple heron, scops owl and serin - will be able to breed in southern England for the first time.

The hoopoe - a colourful crested thrush-sized bird which lives in continental Europe but is a spring visitor to the UK - will have permanently crossed the English Channel, as will the black kite, a bird of prey with a 5ft wingspan.