BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Spotted Flycatcher

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER
Muscicapa striata

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 3, declining
UK: red (>50% population decline)

Long-term trend

UK, England: rapid decline

UK population size

63,700 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)

Status summary

Spotted Flycatchers have declined rapidly and consistently since the 1960s and the CBC/BBS decline is also reflected in the trend revealed by CES. Breeding performance as measured by NRS and CES has tended to improve over this period, although nest losses at chick stage have increased. Demographic modelling shows that decreases in the annual survival rates of birds in their first year of life are most likely to have driven the decline (Freeman & Crick 2003). Decreasing survival rates may have been caused by deteriorations woodland habitats, particularly leading to declines in large flying insects, or by conditions either on the wintering grounds or along migration routes (Fuller et al. 2005). Since trends have been similar across UK regions and habitats, it is more likely that the decline has been driven by factors operating outside the UK.

Population changes

Productivity trends

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