BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Little Owl

LITTLE OWL
Athene noctua

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 3 (declining)
UK: not listed (introduced)

Long-term trend

UK, England: uncertain

Distribution maps

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

Status summary

The CBC/BBS trend for Little Owl shows fluctuations but no clear trend over the long term. This assessment may be unreliable, however, because the species has large territories and is difficult to detect. A population estimate of c. 7000 pairs from the BTO/Hawk & Owl Trust's Project Barn Owl (Toms et al. 2000) is the first replicable estimate for the UK. Although annual nest record samples are small, there are no trends evident in nest success or in clutch or brood size.

Table of population changes for Little Owl

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

CBC/BBS UK 35 1967-2002 48 -26 -58 19

25 1977-2002 57 0 -37 58

10 1992-2002 95 8 -25 53

5 1997-2002 116 9 -19 43

CBC/BBS England 35 1967-2002 45 -17 -53 52

25 1977-2002 54 6 -33 96

10 1992-2002 92 13 -16 59

5 1997-2002 112 6 -20 36

BBS UK 9 1994-2003 90 1 -22 32

BBS England 9 1994-2003 87 6 -19 40

Table of productivity information for Little Owl

Variable Period
(yrs) Years Mean
annual
sample Trend Predicted
in first year Predicted
in last year Change Comment

Clutch size 34 1968-2002 16 None Small sample

Brood size 34 1968-2002 35 None

Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 15 None Small sample

Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 19 None Small sample

Insufficient data on laying dates
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