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BULLFINCH
Pyrrhula pyrrhula

 Bullfinch © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: red (>50% population decline)
Long-term trend
UK: moderate decline
England: rapid decline
UK population size
166,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
The UK Bullfinch population has been in decline since the mid 1970s, following a period of relative stability. The decline was initially very steep, and more so in farmland than in wooded habitats, but has been shallower since the early 1980s. CES and CBC/BBS both suggest a minor upturn in the last few seasons. The demographic mechanism of decline remains unclear (Siriwardena et al. 1999, 2000b), although agricultural intensification and a reduction in the structural and floristic diversity of woodland are suspected to have played a part through losses of food resources and nesting cover (Fuller et al. 2005). Alongside these factors, Proffitt et al. (2004) mention the constraints on survival outside the breeding season and the possible role of increasing Sparrowhawk populations on the ability of Bullfinches to exploit resources in some habitats. Chick-stage nest losses have decreased slightly overall.
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS UK graph
 
BBS acknowledgement
CBC/BBS England graph
CES adult abundance
CES juvenile abundance graph
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Wales graph
 

Productivity trends
 
Clutch size graph
Brood size graph
Egg nest failure graph
Chick nest failure rate
Laying date graph
CES productivity graph
 

Additional information
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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., 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. (2006)
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2005.
BTO Research Report No. 435. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 2 May, 2006