BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Dunnock

DUNNOCK
Prunella modularis

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (25–50% population decline)

Long-term trend

UK, England: moderate decline

UK population size

2,163,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)

Status summary

Dunnock abundance fell substantially between the mid 1970s and mid 1980s, after a period of population stability. Some recovery has occurred throughout the UK since the late 1990s, but the species is still subject to amber listing. The cause of the decline remains unknown. In many lowland woods, canopy closure in the absence of forest management and increasing browsing pressure from deer are likely to have reduced the suitability of the habitat for this species (Fuller et al. 2005). There has been little variation in survival rates over time (Siriwardena et al. 1998a) and, although clutch and brood sizes have increased, so have failure rates at the egg stage, which may affect the ability of the species to recover.

Population changes

Productivity trends

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 28 April, 2006