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BTO Blueline
WHINCHAT
Saxicola rubetra
 Whinchat © G H Higginbotham
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK: possible decline
Distribution maps
Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.
Status summary
Whinchats were not monitored until the BBS began in 1994. By then, however, Gibbons et al. (1993) had identified a range contraction from lowland England that was probably due to the loss of marginal farmland habitats. BBS data suggest that some recent decline may have taken place, especially in England. There has been no clear trend in breeding performance in the period since 1968.
 
BBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Whinchat
Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
BBS UK 9 1994-2003 76 -10 -29 14    
BBS England 9 1994-2003 31 -25 -45 3    
BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS England graph
 
Table of productivity information for Whinchat
Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Predicted
in first year		 Predicted
in last year		 Change Comment
Clutch size 34 1968-2002 13 None       Small sample
Brood size 34 1968-2002 42 None        
Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 16 Linear increase 0.0061 nests/day 0.0203 nests/day 0.0142 nests/day Small sample
Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 29 Curvilinear 0.0269 nests/day 0.0234 nests/day -0.0035 nests/day Small sample
Laying date 34 1968-2002 31 Linear decline day 150 day 146 -4 days  
 
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