Wider Countryside Report Header
BTO Blueline
Main WCR menu image Site navigation menu item Results overview menu item Other info menu item BTO website menu item
BTO Blueline

LESSER WHITETHROAT
Sylvia curruca

Lesser Whitethroat © 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, England: moderate decline
UK population size
64,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Lesser Whitethroat abundance was roughly stable (albeit with short-term fluctuations) from the 1960s until the late 1980s, but the CBC/BBS and CES trends provide evidence for a subsequent moderate decline. These changes were statistically significant, and large enough over the relevant periods to trigger BTO alerts. The species would now meet the amber-list criterion of moderate decline. Wide fluctuations in productivity have been recorded by CES ringers, and may be influencing population change, but pressures during migration and in winter are the most likely causes of decline (Fuller et al. 2005).
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Lesser Whitethroat

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS UK 38 1967-2005 111 -15 -41 28    
  25 1980-2005 144 -25 -41 -8 >25  
  10 1995-2005 245 -8 -20 3    
  5 2000-2005 244 5 -5 15    
CBC/BBS England 38 1967-2005 106 -20 -48 14    
  25 1980-2005 137 -29 -45 -11 >25  
  10 1995-2005 233 -9 -22 3    
  5 2000-2005 232 6 -5 19    
CES adults 21 1984-2005 41 -50 -73 -28 >50  
  10 1995-2005 39 -44 -57 -31 >25  
  5 2000-2005 33 29 4 56    
CES juveniles 21 1984-2005 44 -44 -73 10    
  10 1995-2005 45 -51 -60 -39 >50  
  5 2000-2005 43 -5 -20 19    
BBS UK 10 1995-2005 217 -14 -27 -6    
  5 2000-2005 236 12 -1 23    
BBS England 10 1995-2005 207 -15 -29 -3    
  5 2000-2005 224 12 1 23    

BBS acknowledgement
 
CBC/BBS England graph
CES adult abundance graph
CES juvenile abundance graph
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
 

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Lesser Whitethroat

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2005		 Change Comment
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 21 1984-2005 55 Smoothed trend 78 Index value 100 Index value 27%  
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 10 1995-2005 56 Smoothed trend 87 Index value 100 Index value 15%  
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 5 2000-2005 51 Smoothed trend 110 Index value 100 Index value -9%  

 

 

Insufficient data on clutch size
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on brood size
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on nest failure
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on nestling failure
available for this species

 

 

 

Insufficient data on laying date
available for this species
CES productivity graph
 

Additional information
BTO blue divider
BirdWeb logo, click to go to BirdWeb

BTO Home | JNCC Home
 © British Trust for Ornithology. Charity No 216652 (England and Wales).
Company Limited by Guarantee No 357284 (England and Wales).
Registered Office: The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK.
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement          Email:


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