BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Grasshopper Warbler

GRASSHOPPER WARBLER Locustella naevia

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: red (>50% population decline)

Long-term trend

UK: rapid decline

UK population size

11,750 pairs in 1990 (1988–91 Atlas: APEP06); 12,300 pairs in 2000 (updated using BBS trend: BiE04)

Status summary

Grasshopper Warbler was previously amber-listed because of a contraction in range during the period preceding the 1988–91 Atlas, reportedly due to habitat loss (Gibbons et al. 1993). CBC data suffer from small and severely dwindling sample sizes, but the available data indicate a rapid population decline between the mid 1960s and mid 1980s, when numbers became too small for annual monitoring (Marchant et al. 1990). On this basis, the species is now red-listed. The BBS shows wide fluctuations in abundance since 1994, and currently an overall moderate increase. Given suitable habitat and conditions, the species has high reproductive potential, as demonstrated by analysis of nest record data (Glue 1990).

Population changes

Productivity trends

No productivity information available for this species

Additional information


	BTO Home \| JNCC Home BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK. © British Trust for Ornithology (Registered Charity Number 216652). Terms and Conditions \| Privacy Statement Email:
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