BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Treecreeper

TREECREEPER
Certhia familiaris

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green

Long-term trend

UK, England: fluctuating, with no long-term trend

UK population size

214,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)

Status summary

The UK Treecreeper population peaked in the mid 1970s, but has been roughly stable since about 1980. . Intensive study has shown that Treecreeper numbers and survival rates are reduced by wet winter weather (Peach et al. 1995b). The influence of cold weather is also evident in the low start to the index and the trough around 1980. CBC/BBS data suggest a minor decline has occurred since the early 1980s, but CES adult captures have increased for much of this period. Productivity, calculated using CES data, shows fluctuations around a long-term shallow increase. There has been a significant fall in nest failure rates at the egg stage (18 days, comprising 14 days incubation and 4 days laying).

Population changes

Table of population changes for Treecreeper

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit
CBC/BBS UK	38	1967-2005	171	15	-9	47
	25	1980-2005	213	6	-14	28
	10	1995-2005	351	3	-9	17
	5	2000-2005	324	3	-8	14
CBC/BBS England	38	1967-2005	136	8	-18	43
	25	1980-2005	166	-1	-19	25
	10	1995-2005	265	-4	-15	9
	5	2000-2005	239	0	-10	10
CES adults	21	1984-2005	38	43	1	102
	10	1995-2005	44	15	-8	41
	5	2000-2005	41	17	-5	42
CES juveniles	21	1984-2005	59	27	2	76
	10	1995-2005	68	4	-9	16
	5	2000-2005	68	10	-3	24
BBS UK	10	1995-2005	293	6	-8	23
	5	2000-2005	310	2	-9	15
BBS England	10	1995-2005	216	-3	-16	12
	5	2000-2005	227	-1	-10	8
BBS Wales	10	1995-2005	40	14	-21	49
	5	2000-2005	44	-25	-43	-1

BBS Wales graph

Productivity trends

Table of productivity changes for Treecreeper

Variable	Period (yrs)	Years	Mean annual sample	Trend	Modelled in first year	Modelled in 2005	Change	Comment
Clutch size	37	1968-2005	13	Linear decline	5.39 eggs	5.06 eggs	-6.2%	Small sample
Brood size	37	1968-2005	27	None				Small sample
Daily failure rate (eggs)	37	1968-2005	22	Linear decline	1.94% nests/day	0.61% nests/day	-68.6%	Small sample
Daily failure rate (chicks)	37	1968-2005	23	None				Small sample
Laying date	37	1968-2005	13	Linear decline	May 7	Apr 29	-8 days	Small sample
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES)	21	1984-2005	66	Smoothed trend	104 Index value	100 Index value	-4%
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES)	10	1995-2005	76	Smoothed trend	128 Index value	100 Index value	-22%
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES)	5	2000-2005	75	Smoothed trend	109 Index value	100 Index value	-8%

Additional information


	BTO Home \| JNCC Home © British Trust for Ornithology. Charity No 216652 (England and Wales). Company Limited by Guarantee No 357284 (England and Wales). Registered Office: The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK. Terms and Conditions \| Privacy Statement Email:
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