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BTO Blueline
DIPPER
Cinclus cinclus
 Dipper © Tommy Holden
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: Green
Long-term trend
UK: fluctuating, with no long-term trend
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary
The WBS trend shows that Dipper populations have fluctuated somewhat over the last thirty years. The species is a good indicator of acidity and other water pollution (Ormerod & Tyler 1989, 1990), so the trend warrants careful monitoring. Breeding performance has improved strongly over time, and laying dates have become earlier, perhaps because of climate change (Crick & Sparks 1999). Broods now average larger, and there has been substantial reduction in failure rates of nests at the egg stage.
Table of population changes for Dipper
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
WBS waterways 27 1975-2002 36 -9 -34 19    
  25 1977-2002 36 -3 -28 20    
  10 1992-2002 36 2 -12 16    
  5 1997-2002 31 7 -2 19    
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 44 34 -8 95    
BBS acknowledgement
BBS UK graph
Table of productivity information for Dipper
Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Predicted
in first year		 Predicted
in last year		 Change Comment
Clutch size 34 1968-2002 74 None        
Brood size 34 1968-2002 141 Linear increase 3.52 chicks 3.96 chicks 0.44 chicks  
Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 104 Curvilinear 0.0252 nests/day 0.003 nests/day -0.0222 nests/day  
Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 81 None        
Laying date 34 1968-2002 62 Linear decline day 108 day 100 -8 days  
 
Insufficient data on CES
available for this species
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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., 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