BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Pied Wagtail

PIED WAGTAIL
Motacilla alba

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

Britain and Ireland together hold almost the entire population of the distinctive dark-backed race yarrellii, and so population changes in the UK are of special significance. The CBC shows that a strong increase occurred up to the mid 1970s, such that populations have increased overall since 1966. Results of monitoring conflict somewhat since 1974, however: CBC/BBS and WBS trends fluctuate in parallel but, whereas little overall change is evident in the CBC/BBS index, WBS has shown a moderate decline, perhaps suggesting the influence of factors specific to linear waterways. The long-term trend in abundance is similar to those shown by Wren and Long-tailed Tit, two other resident insectivores (Siriwardena et al. 1998a). Changes in breeding performance measures have been conflicting and do not help explain the population trends. Although average clutch and brood sizes have declined a little, failure rates at the egg stage (17 days, comprising 13 days incubation and 4 days laying) have also fallen.

Table of population changes for Pied Wagtail

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit	Alert	Comment
CBC/BBS UK	35	1967-2002	300	97	48	170
	25	1977-2002	389	-5	-25	22
	10	1992-2002	839	10	1	22
	5	1997-2002	1123	11	5	17
CBC/BBS England	35	1967-2002	233	104	49	206
	25	1977-2002	299	-6	-27	31
	10	1992-2002	640	11	1	25
	5	1997-2002	854	15	10	20
WBS waterways	27	1975-2002	66	-47	-61	-35	>25
	25	1977-2002	65	-41	-56	-29	>25
	10	1992-2002	67	-15	-25	-6
	5	1997-2002	59	-3	-10	8
BBS UK	9	1994-2003	982	34	24	43
BBS England	9	1994-2003	742	36	25	47
BBS Scotland	9	1994-2003	114	38	11	71
BBS Wales	9	1994-2003	94	12	-11	39

Table of productivity information for Pied Wagtail

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

Clutch size 34 1968-2002 59 Linear decline 5.13 eggs 4.95 eggs -0.18 eggs

Brood size 34 1968-2002 110 Curvilinear 4.43 chicks 4.21 chicks -0.22 chicks

Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 81 Curvilinear 0.0145 nests/day 0.0072 nests/day -0.0073 nests/day

Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 89 None

Laying date 34 1968-2002 78 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