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BTO Blueline

GOLDCREST
Regulus regulus

 Goldcrest © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (>50% population decline, but data possibly unrepresentative)
Long-term trend
England: fluctuating, with no long-term trend
UK population size
842,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Goldcrest abundance is affected strongly by winter weather, and the strong increase in the species' CBC/BBS index up to the mid 1970s can be interpreted as recovery from the cold winters of the early 1960s. The subsequent decline has resulted in the recent addition of the species to the amber list, although it only meets the criterion because 1975, the start of the relevant 25-year period, was the peak year of the population index. Trends over longer and shorter periods all suggest population increase, and the long-term trend looks very much like what would be obtained had a series of damped oscillations followed an earlier perturbation. The high amplitude of year-to-year change reflects the species high breeding potential, and its sensitivity to cold winter weather. BBS has recorded substantial increases in all UK countries except Wales, where a significant decline has been registered. CBC had relatively poor coverage of conifer plantations, in which Goldcrests occur at increasing densities as the trees mature. The increase in area of such prime habitat has therefore been poorly reflected in the long-term trend.
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Goldcrest

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS England 38 1967-2005 193 40 -22 202    
  25 1980-2005 253 -14 -34 9    
  10 1995-2005 496 28 14 41    
  5 2000-2005 555 -2 -10 6    
BBS UK 10 1995-2005 647 29 10 46    
  5 2000-2005 761 -5 -12 4    
BBS England 10 1995-2005 449 24 12 37    
  5 2000-2005 542 -2 -10 7    
BBS Scotland 10 1995-2005 77 73 30 103    
  5 2000-2005 79 4 -8 18    
BBS Wales 10 1995-2005 78 -35 -56 -1 >25  
  5 2000-2005 90 -35 -47 -20 >25  
BBS N.Ireland 10 1995-2005 37 62 9 114    
  5 2000-2005 43 -7 -25 25    

BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
BBS Wales graph
 

Productivity trends
Productivity information is not currently 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., 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