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BTO Blueline
OYSTERCATCHER
Haematopus ostralegus

Oystercatcher © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (>20% of European breeding population, >20% of East Atlantic Flyway population in winter, localised wintering population)
Long-term trend
UK: rapid increase
UK population size
113,000 (98,500–127,000) pairs in 1985–99 (O'Brien 2005: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Oystercatchers increased along linear waterways between 1974 and about 1986, as the species colonised inland sites across England and Wales (Gibbons et al. 1993). Thereafter, the WBS index stabilised, so showing a pattern similar to that in winter abundance revealed by WeBS (Collier et al. 2005). Surveys in England and Wales revealed an increase of 47% in breeding birds in wet meadows between 1982 and 2002 (Wilson et al. 2004). BBS data since 1994, which include birds in a broader range of locations and habitats, show increase in England but apparently a minor decline in Scotland. The increase in nest failure rates for the 27-day egg stage (25 days for incubation and 2 days for laying) probably results from the spread of the species into less favourable habitats, where predation or trampling may be more likely. The trend towards earlier laying can be partly explained by recent climate change (Crick & Sparks 1999).
 

Population changes
WBS UK graph
 
BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
 

Productivity trends
 
Clutch size graph

 

 

Insufficient data on brood size
available for this species
Egg nest failure graph

 

 

Insufficient data on nestling failure
available for this species
Laying date graph

 

 

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 19 May, 2006