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BTO Blueline
SPARROWHAWK
Accipiter nisus
Sparrowhawk © Tommy Holden
 
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green
Long-term trend
England: rapid increase
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary
Sparrowhawks increased strongly in the UK as the population recovered from the crash caused by organochlorine pesticides in the 1950s and 1960s (Newton 1986). Improving breeding performance is likely to have contributed to this increase. Failure rates at the egg stage (c.44 days from laying the first egg) have fallen markedly. The population seems to have stabilised since the mid 1990s.
 
CBC/BBS England graph
 
Table of population changes for Sparrowhawk
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS England 27 1975-2002 103 177 88 398    
  25 1977-2002 109 124 62 261    
  10 1992-2002 221 2 -11 26    
  5 1997-2002 278 5 -4 19    
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 271 -5 -18 10    
BBS England 9 1994-2003 224 -7 -21 9    
BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
 
Table of productivity information for Sparrowhawk
Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Predicted
in first year		 Predicted
in last year		 Change Comment
Clutch size 34 1968-2002 40 None        
Brood size 34 1968-2002 78 Curvilinear 3.1 chicks 3.59 chicks 0.49 chicks  
Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 37 Linear decline 0.0046 nests/day 0.0011 nests/day -0.0035 nests/day  
Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 52 None        
Laying date 34 1968-2002 16 None       Small sample
 
Clutch size graph
Brood size graph
Egg nest failure graph
Chick nest failure graph
Laying date graph

 

 

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