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BTO Blueline
SONG THRUSH
Turdus philomelos
 

• 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, England: rapid decline
UK population size
1,144,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
The CBC shows a rapid decline in Song Thrush abundance that began in the mid 1970s. The second half of this decline can also be seen in the CES index. CES productivity showed an initial decrease, followed by stability, and NRS data indicate that breeding performance has improved during this period. Changes in survival of juveniles in their first year of life probably drove the decline (Thomson et al. 1997, Siriwardena et al. 1998a). Recent CBC/BBS data suggest that the decline has at least levelled off, and may now be reversing. Decreasing Song Thrush abundance has been linked to agricultural intensification (Fuller et al. 1995), but drainage of damp ground and the depletion of woodland shrub layers through canopy closure and deer browsing may also be implicated (Fuller et al. 2005). Recovery of rural Song Thrush populations requires challenging new policy initiatives that should aim to restore nesting cover in scrub and woodland understorey, grazed grassland in arable-dominated areas and damper soils in summer (Peach et al. 2004).
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS UK graph
 
BBS acknowledgement
 
CBC/BBS England graph
CES adult abundance graph
CES juvenile abundance graph
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
BBS Wales graph
BBS N Ireland graph
 

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

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