BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Goldfinch

GOLDFINCH
Carduelis carduelis

Conservation listings

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

Long-term trend

England: fluctuating, with no long-term trend

Distribution maps

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

Status summary

Goldfinch abundance fell sharply from the mid 1970s until the mid 1980s, but the decline was both preceded and followed by significant population increases. The recent upturn has lifted the species from the amber list into the Green category, and has been accompanied by an increase in its use of gardens for winter feeding. These population changes can be explained almost entirely by changes in annual survival rates, which may have resulted from a reduction in the availability of weed seeds, due to agricultural intensification, and subsequent increased use of other food sources such as garden bird tables. Alternatively, the effects of environmental change or increased hunting pressure in the Franco-Iberian wintering grounds of the migrant majority of the population may have temporarily reduced survival rates (Siriwardena et al. 1999). There has been an increase during the 1990s in productivity as measured by CES.

Table of population changes for Goldfinch

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

CBC/BBS England 35 1967-2002 278 7 -18 36

25 1977-2002 355 -19 -34 -7

10 1992-2002 759 24 12 39

5 1997-2002 995 14 8 21

CES adults 18 1984-2002 31 6 . .

10 1992-2002 38 -8 . .

5 1997-2002 37 -4 . .

CES juveniles 18 1984-2002 18 -36 . . [>25*] Small sample

10 1992-2002 22 11 . .

5 1997-2002 23 7 . .

BBS UK 9 1994-2003 1053 33 24 43

BBS England 9 1994-2003 870 16 7 25

BBS Scotland 9 1994-2003 61 104 43 191

BBS Wales 9 1994-2003 94 110 64 168

Table of productivity information for Goldfinch

Variable	Period (yrs)	Years	Mean annual sample	Trend	Predicted in first year	Predicted in last year	Change	Comment
Clutch size	34	1968-2002	18	None				Small sample
Brood size	34	1968-2002	32	None
Daily failure rate (eggs)	34	1968-2002	33	None
Daily failure rate (chicks)	34	1968-2002	27	None				Small sample
Laying date	34	1968-2002	21	None				Small sample
Percentage juveniles (CES)	18	1984-2002	36	Smoothed trend	117 productivity index	102 productivity index	-15%
Percentage juveniles (CES)	10	1992-2002	44	Smoothed trend	76 productivity index	102 productivity index	32%
Percentage juveniles (CES)	5	1997-2002	45	Smoothed trend	94 productivity index	102 productivity index	6%


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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