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
LITTLE GREBE
Tachybaptus ruficollis

Little Grebe © Derek Belsey
 
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK: uncertain
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary
Both BBS and WBS have small samples for this species. Because of the shortage of data, and the conflict between WBS and BBS assessments, the rapid decline indicated by WBS has not triggered a conservation listing. The decline shown by the WBS may reveal problems among birds on linear waterways during the early 1980s and late 1990s, while increases shown by the CBC and by BBS may suggest that wider populations (including small still waters) are healthy. In an analysis of nest record cards, Moss & Moss (1993) found that nests on ponds and lakes were significantly more successful than those on rivers and streams and that nests on rivers, subject to fluctuating water levels, experienced significantly higher failure rates through flooding than those on canals, where water levels are artificially maintained. 
Waterways UK graph
Table of population changes for Little Grebe
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
WBS waterways 27 1975-2002 17 -68 -84 -29 >50 Small sample
  25 1977-2002 17 -76 -88 -41 >50 Small sample
  10 1992-2002 15 -49 -65 -30 >25 Small sample
  5 1997-2002 13 -42 -55 -29 >25 Small sample
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 49 49 7 107    
BBS England 9 1994-2003 40 47 0 114    
BBS acknowledgement
BBS UK graph
BBS England 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