Wider Countryside Report Header
BTO Blueline
Main WCR menu image Site navigation menu item Results overview menu item Other info menu item BTO website menu item
BTO Blueline

CUCKOO
Cuculus canorus
Cuckoo © Tommy Holden
 
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: amber (25-50% population decline)
Long-term trend
England: rapid decline
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary
The CBC/BBS trend shows Cuckoo abundance to have been in decline since the early 1980s. The species has recently been moved from the Green to the amber list, but the data now meet red-list criteria. The sensitivity of CBC to change in this species may have been relatively low, mainly because Cuckoo territories were typically larger than census plots (Marchant et al. 1990). BBS shows a continuing strong decline in England and Wales, but no decline in Scotland. Cuckoo numbers may have fallen because the populations of some key host species, such as Dunnock and Meadow Pipit, have declined (Brooke & Davies 1987).
CBC/BBS UK graph
Table of population changes for Cuckoo
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS England 35 1967-2002 226 -56 -68 -43 >50  
  25 1977-2002 283 -56 -66 -46 >50  
  10 1992-2002 544 -46 -51 -40 >25  
  5 1997-2002 643 -34 -39 -30 >25  
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 707 -36 -41 -30 (>25)  
BBS England 9 1994-2003 572 -48 -53 -43 (>25)  
BBS Scotland 9 1994-2003 63 14 -15 53    
BBS Wales 9 1994-2003 54 -49 -63 -28 (>25)  
BBS acknowledgement
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
BBS Wales graph
Productivity information is not currently available for this species
BTO blue divider
BirdWeb logo, click to go to BirdWeb

BTO Home | JNCC Home
BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK.
 © British Trust for Ornithology (Registered Charity Number 216652).
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., Beaven, L.P., Coombes, R.H.,
Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2005)
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2004.
BTO Research Report No. 385. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 18 January, 2006