BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Dunnock

DUNNOCK
Prunella modularis

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (25-50% population decline)

Long-term trend

UK, England: moderate decline

Distribution maps

Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.

Status summary

Dunnock abundance fell substantially between the mid 1970s and mid 1980s, after a period of population stability. Some recovery has occurred throughout the UK since the late 1990s, but the species is still subject to amber listing. The cause of the decline remains unknown. There has been little variation in survival rates over time (Siriwardena et al. 1998a) and although clutch and brood size has increased, so have failure rates at the egg stage, which may affect the ability of the species to recover.

Table of population changes for Dunnock

Source Period
(yrs) Years Plots
(n) Change
(%) Lower
limit Upper
limit Alert Comment

CBC/BBS UK 35 1967-2002 538 -38 -45 -28 >25

25 1977-2002 677 -30 -39 -22 >25

10 1992-2002 1361 16 9 24

5 1997-2002 1795 15 12 18

CBC/BBS England 35 1967-2002 450 -40 -49 -28 >25

25 1977-2002 564 -33 -43 -21 >25

10 1992-2002 1126 14 7 23

5 1997-2002 1464 14 11 19

CES adults 18 1984-2002 92 -1 . .

10 1992-2002 107 11 . .

5 1997-2002 106 13 . .

CES juveniles 18 1984-2002 89 -12 . .

10 1992-2002 105 -5 . .

5 1997-2002 106 2 . .

BBS UK 9 1994-2003 1513 21 15 26

BBS England 9 1994-2003 1237 13 8 19

BBS Scotland 9 1994-2003 102 43 14 80

BBS Wales 9 1994-2003 118 27 7 51

BBS N.Ireland 9 1994-2003 48 229 108 422

Table of productivity information for Dunnock

Variable	Period (yrs)	Years	Mean annual sample	Trend	Predicted in first year	Predicted in last year	Change	Comment
Clutch size	34	1968-2002	99	Linear increase	3.91 eggs	4.21 eggs	0.3 eggs
Brood size	34	1968-2002	104	Linear increase	3.45 chicks	3.67 chicks	0.22 chicks
Daily failure rate (eggs)	34	1968-2002	139	Curvilinear	0.0262 nests/day	0.0283 nests/day	0.0021 nests/day
Daily failure rate (chicks)	34	1968-2002	110	None
Laying date	34	1968-2002	79	None
Percentage juveniles (CES)	18	1984-2002	97	Smoothed trend	112 productivity index	102 productivity index	-10%
Percentage juveniles (CES)	10	1992-2002	112	Smoothed trend	116 productivity index	102 productivity index	-14%
Percentage juveniles (CES)	5	1997-2002	112	Smoothed trend	110 productivity index	102 productivity index	-9%


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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