BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Redshank

REDSHANK
Tringa totanus

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 2 (declining)
UK: amber (>50% population decline but data possibly unrepresentative, >20% of East Atlantic Flyway population in winter)

Long-term trend

UK: moderate decline

Distribution maps

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

Status summary

UK population decline has recently been added to the criteria by which Redshank qualifies for amber listing. Considerable range contraction had occurred from many areas of the UK by 1988-91, probably as a result of the drainage of farmland (Gibbons et al. 1993). WBS results show a decline along waterways that apparently accelerated during the 1990s. BBS shows a moderate UK decline, but this is not evident in the data for England alone. Wintering populations (augmented by many Icelandic and some other northern European breeders) have been stable since the 1970s (Pollitt et al. 2003). The substantial section of the British population that nests on saltmarshes decreased by 23% between 1985 and 1996 (Brindley et al. 1998). The failure rate of nests at the egg stage has fallen since the 1960s.

Table of population changes for Redshank

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit	Alert	Comment
WBS waterways	27	1975-2002	19	-44	-85	-6	>25	Small sample
	25	1977-2002	19	-47	-85	-14	>25	Small sample
	10	1992-2002	19	-39	-52	-23	>25	Small sample
	5	1997-2002	16	-22	-35	-7		Small sample
BBS UK	9	1994-2003	67	-22	-39	0
BBS England	9	1994-2003	44	1	-27	39

Table of productivity information for Redshank

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

Clutch size 34 1968-2002 29 None Small sample

Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 33 Linear decline 0.0411 nests/day 0.0171 nests/day -0.024 nests/day

Insufficient data on brood size
available for this species

Insufficient data on nestling failure
available for this species

Insufficient data on laying date
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