BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Kestrel

KESTREL
Falco tinnunculus

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 3, declining
UK: amber (25–50% population decline)

Long-term trend

England: moderate decline (since mid 1970s)

UK population size

36,800 pairs in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)

Status summary

Kestrels had recovered from the lethal and sublethal effects of organochlorine pesticides by the mid 1970s, the recovery probably driven by improving nesting success, but subsequently entered a decline which has been linked to the effects of agricultural intensification on farmland habitats and small mammal populations (Gibbons et al. 1993). BBS data reveal that the population decline has shown some reversal since 2000. The failure rate at the egg stage (c.28 days from laying the first egg) has declined substantially since the 1970s, and brood sizes have increased.

Population changes

Productivity trends

Insufficient data on CES
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