BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Mistle Thrush

MISTLE THRUSH
Turdus viscivorus

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (25-50% population decline)

Long-term trend

UK, England: moderate decline

Distribution maps

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

Status summary

Like those of Song Thrush and Blackbird, Mistle Thrush populations have declined significantly since the mid 1970s, especially on farmland. The species has recently been moved from the green to the amber list because of population decline, but recent BBS data suggest that this decline may now have ceased. The Scottish BBS trend is of strong increase since the late 1990s. There have been no strong trends in breeding performance, and the decline is likely to have been driven by reduced annual survival (Siriwardena et al. 1998).

Table of population changes for Mistle Thrush

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit	Alert	Comment
CBC/BBS UK	35	1967-2002	354	-36	-46	-21	>25
	25	1977-2002	443	-37	-45	-26	>25
	10	1992-2002	872	-8	-15	3
	5	1997-2002	1145	6	0	13
CBC/BBS England	35	1967-2002	295	-39	-49	-25	>25
	25	1977-2002	367	-41	-47	-30	>25
	10	1992-2002	715	-16	-23	-7
	5	1997-2002	920	-1	-7	5
BBS UK	9	1994-2003	964	2	-6	10
BBS England	9	1994-2003	777	-9	-17	-1
BBS Scotland	9	1994-2003	59	82	31	153
BBS Wales	9	1994-2003	83	-6	-28	23
BBS N.Ireland	9	1994-2003	42	-2	-38	57

Table of productivity information for Mistle Thrush

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

Clutch size 34 1968-2002 37 Linear increase 3.88 eggs 4.05 eggs 0.17 eggs

Brood size 34 1968-2002 71 None

Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 61 None

Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 63 None

Laying date 34 1968-2002 31 None

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