BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Magpie

MAGPIE
Pica pica

Conservation listings

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

Long-term trend

UK, England: rapid increase

Distribution maps

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

Status summary

The high level of adaptability displayed by Magpies has allowed them to colonise many new urban and suburban localities since the 1960s. Magpies increased steadily until the late 1980s, when abundance stabilised (Gregory & Marchant 1996). BBS data indicate continuing strong increase in Scotland. The trend has been associated with improvements in breeding performance, as has been observed for other corvids, and probably reflects the benefits of a generalist strategy under changing environmental conditions. The declines in nest failure rates, during both the egg stage (21 days, comprising 17 days incubation and 4 days laying) and the chick stage (25 days), have been substantial, and are likely to be the result of reductions in gamekeeping activity (Marchant et al. 1990). A strong trend towards earlier laying has also been identified and may be partially explained by recent climate change (Crick & Sparks 1999).

Table of population changes for Magpie

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

CBC/BBS UK 35 1967-2002 472 108 68 150

25 1977-2002 615 51 36 66

10 1992-2002 1270 -3 -8 2

5 1997-2002 1692 -2 -5 2

CBC/BBS England 35 1967-2002 405 111 67 166

25 1977-2002 527 59 36 84

10 1992-2002 1078 -3 -8 2

5 1997-2002 1410 -1 -4 2

BBS UK 9 1994-2003 1422 1 -3 6

BBS England 9 1994-2003 1188 -1 -6 4

BBS Scotland 9 1994-2003 33 59 13 124

BBS Wales 9 1994-2003 133 -5 -20 12

BBS N.Ireland 9 1994-2003 59 15 -12 51

Table of productivity information for Magpie

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

Clutch size 34 1968-2002 49 Curvilinear 5.57 eggs 4.68 eggs -0.89 eggs

Brood size 34 1968-2002 86 Curvilinear 3.06 chicks 3.16 chicks 0.1 chicks

Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 56 Linear decline 0.0283 nests/day 0.0032 nests/day -0.0251 nests/day

Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 55 Linear decline 0.017 nests/day 0.0018 nests/day -0.0152 nests/day

Laying date 34 1968-2002 38 Curvilinear day 110 day 82 -28 days

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