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BTO Blueline
PIED WAGTAIL
Motacilla alba
Pied Wagtail © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK: uncertain
UK population size
272,000–352,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS and WBS trends: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Britain and Ireland together hold almost the entire population of the distinctive dark-backed race yarrellii, and so population changes in the UK are of special significance. The CBC shows that a strong increase occurred up to the mid 1970s, such that populations have increased overall since 1966. Results of monitoring conflict somewhat since 1974, however: CBC/BBS and WBS trends fluctuate in parallel but, whereas little overall change is evident in the CBC/BBS index, WBS has shown a moderate decline, perhaps suggesting the influence of factors specific to linear waterways. The long-term trend in abundance is similar to those shown by Wren and Long-tailed Tit, two other resident insectivores (Siriwardena et al. 1998a). Changes in breeding performance measures have been conflicting and do not help explain the population trends. Although average clutch and brood sizes have declined a little, failure rates at the egg stage (17 days, comprising 13 days incubation and 4 days laying) have also fallen.
 

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

Productivity trends
 
Clutch size graph
Brood size graph
Egg nest failure graph
Chick nest failure graph
Laying date graph

 

 

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species
 

Additional information
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BirdWeb logo, click to go to BirdWeb

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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