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BTO Blueline
LITTLE GREBE
Tachybaptus ruficollis

Little Grebe © Derek Belsey
 

• 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: uncertain
UK population size
5,900–12,000 pairs in 1990 (1988–91 Atlas: APEP06); 3,800–13,000 pairs in 2000 (updated using CBC and WBS trends: BiE04)
Status summary
The rapid decline shown by the WBS may reveal problems among birds on linear waterways during the early 1980s and since the late 1990s, while shallow increases shown by the CBC and by BBS may suggest that wider populations (including birds on small still waters) are healthy. Because of the shortage of data, and the conflict between WBS and BBS assessments, the rapid decline indicated by WBS has not triggered a conservation listing. In an analysis of nest record cards, Moss & Moss (1993) found that nests on ponds and lakes were significantly more successful than those on rivers and streams and that nests on rivers, subject to fluctuating water levels, experienced significantly higher failure rates through flooding than those on canals, where water levels are artificially maintained. Winter numbers, monitored by WeBS, have shown sustained shallow increase (Austin et al. 2008).
 

Population changes
Waterways UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Little Grebe

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
WBS waterways 31 1975-2006 16 -59 -87 -9 >50 Small sample
  25 1981-2006 15 -64 -87 -23 >50 Small sample
  10 1996-2006 11 -30 -72 22   Small sample
BBS UK 11 1995-2006 62 25 -4 61    
  10 1996-2006 65 22 -6 52    
  5 2001-2006 77 4 -13 24    
BBS England 11 1995-2006 51 12 -21 65    
  10 1996-2006 53 6 -22 51    
  5 2001-2006 62 -5 -23 23    

BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
 

Productivity trends
Productivity information is not currently 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., Leech, D.I., Joys, A.C., Noble, D.G.,
Barimore, C., Grantham, M.J., Risely, K. & Robinson, R.A. (2009).
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2008.
BTO Research Report No. 516. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Iain Downie, Mandy T Andrews and Laura Smith: Last updated 18.02.2009