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BTO Blueline
STOCK DOVE
Columba oenas
Stock Dove © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (>20% of European breeding population)
Long-term trend
England: rapid increase
UK population size
309,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Following release from the lethal and sublethal effects of the organochlorine seed-dressings used in the 1950s and early 1960s, Stock Dove populations have increased very substantially (O'Connor & Mead 1984). Numbers appeared to level off in the early 1980s, and entered a further increasing phase in the early 1990s. Recent BBS indices suggest that numbers have now stabilised again. The increase in nest failure rates at the egg stage, now reversed, was not detectable in farmland habitats alone (Siriwardena et al. 2000b). Overall, nest failure rates have fallen substantially. Most nests appear to be started around two weeks later in the year now than in the 1960s and 1970s.
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS England graph
 
Table of population changes for Stock Dove

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS England 38 1967-2005 232 181 98 329    
  25 1980-2005 322 18 -5 48    
  10 1995-2005 645 10 -2 22    
  5 2000-2005 670 -4 -10 4    
BBS UK 10 1995-2005 658 8 -2 23    
  5 2000-2005 716 0 -8 9    
BBS England 10 1995-2005 606 7 -3 18    
  5 2000-2005 658 -3 -10 5    

BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
 

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Stock Dove

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2005		 Change Comment
Clutch size 37 1968-2005 76 Curvilinear 2.07 eggs 2.07 eggs 0.1%  
Brood size 37 1968-2005 103 None        
Daily failure rate (eggs) 37 1968-2005 73 Curvilinear 1.13% nests/day 0.33% nests/day -70.8%  
Daily failure rate (chicks) 37 1968-2005 54 Linear decline 1.22% nests/day 0.69% nests/day -43.4%  
Laying date 37 1968-2005 16 Linear increase May 30 Jun 13 14 days Small sample

 
Clutch size graph
Brood size graph
Egg nest failure graph
Chick nest failure graph
Laying date graph

 

 

Insufficient data on CES
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