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BTO Blueline
COMMON SANDPIPER
Actitis hypoleucos
Common Sandpiper © Colin Varndell
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: SPEC category 3 (declining)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK: moderate decline
UK population size
12,000 pairs in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using WBS trend: BiE04, APEP06); about 24,000 pairs in Britain (Dougall et al. 2004)
Status summary
WBS results for this species show a decline from 1985 onwards (after a more gradual increase) that has yet to be explained. The recent decrease is matched by BBS data from Scotland and from the UK as a whole, and warrants a BTO alert. Poorer breeding success and reduced survival of first-year birds over winter in West Africa were both suggested as possible reasons for the failure of the Peak District population to recover after a hard-weather event in 1989 (Holland & Yalden 2002). Following declines during the 1990s in the large Swedish and Finnish populations, and more widely in Europe, the European status of this species is no longer considered 'secure' (BirdLife International 2004). The mean change across all European countries during the 1990s was a significant decline (Sanderson et al. 2006). UK clutch sizes have shown a slight decline since the 1960s.
 

Population changes
Waterways UK graph
Table of population changes for Common Sandpiper

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
WBS waterways 30 1975-2005 26 -22 -45 -3    
  25 1980-2005 26 -26 -46 -11 >25  
  10 1995-2005 23 -11 -31 6    
  5 2000-2005 17 0 -17 13   Small sample
BBS UK 10 1995-2005 61 -15 -30 5    
  5 2000-2005 55 -7 -22 19    
BBS Scotland 10 1995-2005 32 -14 -28 11    

BBS acknowledgement
BBS UK graph
BBS Scotland graph

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Common Sandpiper

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2005		 Change Comment
Clutch size 37 1968-2005 11 Linear decline 3.93 eggs 3.75 eggs -4.5% Small sample
Daily failure rate (eggs) 37 1968-2005 13 None       Small sample

 
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

 

 

Insufficient data on laying date
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species
 

Additional information
BTO blue divider
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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., Barimore, C., Coombes, R.H.,
Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. & Thewlis, R.M. (2007)
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2007.
BTO Research Report No. 487. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 3 January, 2008