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BTO Blueline
NIGHTINGALE
Luscinia megarhynchos
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (25–50% distribution decline)
Long-term trend
UK: probable shallow decline
UK population size
6,700 (5,600–9,350) males in 1999 (Wilson et al. 2002: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
In 1999, the BTO organised a national survey of Nightingales, which showed a marked range contraction since the previous survey in 1980, but only an 8% overall population decline (Wilson et al. 2002; for more details click here). Nightingales are scarce birds, and CBC and BBS data are correspondingly meagre. Nevertheless, analysis of the available CBC data shows continuous decline (G.M. Siriwardena, unpubl.) and CES suggests a fluctuating pattern, or possible decline. Fuller et al. (2005) suggest the likely causes of Nightingale decline relate to pressures on migration and in winter, perhaps compounded by habitat loss and reduced habitat quality in Britain. CES indicates a sharp decline in productivity during the 1980s, perhaps because Nightingale nesting success may be adversely affected by cold and wet springs. Numbers have fallen widely in Europe since 1980 (PECBM 2006).
 

Population changes
 
Table of population changes for Nightingale

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CES adults 10 1994-2004 10 8 -62 99   Small sample

BBS acknowledgement
 
CES juvenile abundance graph
 

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Nightingale

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2005		 Change Comment
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 21 1984-2005 11 Smoothed trend 1043 Index value 100 Index value -90% >50 Small sample
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 10 1995-2005 11 Smoothed trend 231 Index value 100 Index value -57% Small sample

 

 

Insufficient data on clutch size
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on brood size
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on nest failure
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on nestling failure
available for this species

 

 

 

Insufficient data on laying date
available for this species
 

Additional information
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This report should be cited as:
Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Barimore, C., Coombes, R.H.,
Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. & Thewlis, R.M. (2007)
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2007.
BTO Research Report No. 487. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 3 January, 2008