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BTO Blueline

GOLDCREST
Regulus regulus

 Goldcrest © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (>50% population decline, but data possibly unrepresentative)
Long-term trend
England: fluctuating, with no long-term trend
UK population size
842,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend:BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Goldcrest abundance is affected strongly by winter weather, and the strong increase in the species' CBC/BBS index up to the mid 1970s can be interpreted as recovery from the cold winters of the early 1960s. The subsequent decline has resulted in the recent addition of the species to the amber list, although it only meets the criterion because 1975, the start of the relevant 25-year period, was the peak year of the population index. Trends over longer and shorter periods all suggest population increase, and the long-term trend looks very much like what would be obtained had a series of damped oscillations followed an earlier perturbation. The high amplitude of year-to-year change reflects the species high breeding potential, and its sensitivity to cold winter weather. BBS has recorded substantial increases in all UK countries except Wales, where a significant decline has been registered. CBC had relatively poor coverage of conifer plantations, in which Goldcrests occur at increasing densities as the trees mature. The increase in area of such prime habitat has therefore been poorly reflected in the long-term trend.
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS UK graph
 
BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
BBS Wales graph
 

Productivity trends
Productivity information is not currently available for this species

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