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BTO Blueline
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BTO Blueline

SHELDUCK
Tadorna tadorna
Shelduck © Tommy Holden
 
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: amber (localised in winter, >20% of NW European population in winter)
Long term-trend
UK: increase
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary
Shelducks occurred on relatively few CBC plots, most of which were close to a coast or an estuary, and it is unclear how well the CBC trend represents that of the population as a whole. The CBC showed a substantial increase from the mid 1960s until the early 1980s, some decrease during the 1980s, and stability during the 1990s. Population increase was associated with expansion of range, measured at 20% in Britain between 1968-72 and 1988-91 (Gibbons et al. 1993). The UK winter Shelduck population has shown a general increase since 1965 (Pollitt et al. 2003). Recent declines shown by BBS and by WeBS (Pollitt et al. 2003) may reveal emerging problems for the species.
 
CBC all habitats graph
 
Table of population changes for Shelduck
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC all habitats 31 1968-1999 18 300 94 787   Unrepresentative? small sample
  25 1974-1999 21 12 -40 118   Unrepresentative?
  10 1989-1999 21 3 -21 40   Unrepresentative?
  5 1994-1999 23 4 -18 39   Unrepresentative?
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 114 -39 -49 -26 (>25)  
BBS England 9 1994-2003 94 -11 -27 9    
BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
 
Productivity information is not currently 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