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BTO Blueline
GOLDEN PLOVER
Pluvialis apricaria
Golden Plover © Tommy Holden
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: Green
Long-term trend
UK: possible decline
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary

The species has recently been moved from the amber to the green list because new data suggest that it does not qualify as internationally important during the breeding season. There were no annual monitoring data before the inception of BBS. BBS has shown possible declines in Scotland and the UK since 1994, and this is generally thought to be a continuation of an earlier trend (Gibbons et al. 1993). Nest survival on grass moors, unlike that on heather moors, may have declined over time (Crick 1992a), perhaps linked to increased stocking densities of sheep (Fuller 1996). There is no clear trend in clutch size; a large number of late-season records, which provide higher proportions of two- and three-egg clutches, were submitted from an intensive study during 1996-98 (Pearce-Higgins, pers. comm.).

 
BBS UK graph
Table of population changes for Golden Plover
Source Period
(yrs)
Years Plots
(n)
Change
(%)
Lower
limit
Upper
limit
Alert Comment
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 53 -9 -31 21    
BBS Scotland 9 1994-2003 43 -13 -36 19    
BBS acknowledgement
BBS Scotland graph
Table of productivity information for Golden Plover
Variable Period
(yrs)
Years Mean
annual
sample
Trend Predicted
in first year
Predicted
in last year
Change Comment
Clutch size 34 1968-2002 15 None       Small sample
Clutch size graph
Insufficient data on brood size
available for this species

 

Insufficient data on nest failure
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on nestling failure
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on laying date
available for this species

 

 

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