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
MISTLE THRUSH
Turdus viscivorus
Mistle Thrush © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (25–50% population decline)
Long-term trend
UK, England: moderate decline
UK population size
222,500 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Like those of Song Thrush and Blackbird, Mistle Thrush populations have declined significantly since the mid 1970s, especially on farmland. The species was recently moved from the green to the amber list because of population decline, and recent BBS data suggest that this decline is continuing. The Scottish BBS trend, in contrast to those elsewhere in the UK, is of strong increase since the late 1990s. There have been no trends in breeding performance, other than a minor increase in clutch size, and the decline is likely to have been driven by reduced annual survival (Siriwardena et al. 1998). Numbers have fallen widely in Europe since 1980 (PECBMS 2007).
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Mistle Thrush

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS UK 39 1967-2006 447 -43 -51 -31 >25  
  25 1981-2006 615 -38 -45 -31 >25  
  10 1996-2006 1175 -6 -11 2    
  5 2001-2006 1203 -12 -16 -7    
CBC/BBS England 39 1967-2006 367 -49 -57 -39 >25  
  25 1981-2006 500 -46 -52 -38 >25  
  10 1996-2006 939 -18 -22 -13    
  5 2001-2006 944 -18 -21 -14    
BBS UK 11 1995-2006 1088 -6 -13 2    
  10 1996-2006 1119 -6 -12 1    
  5 2001-2006 1203 -11 -14 -5    
BBS England 11 1995-2006 869 -19 -24 -13    
  10 1996-2006 890 -18 -22 -13    
  5 2001-2006 944 -17 -20 -13    
BBS Scotland 11 1995-2006 66 51 21 101    
  10 1996-2006 67 40 16 81    
  5 2001-2006 73 0 -12 18    
BBS Wales 11 1995-2006 95 2 -22 18    
  10 1996-2006 100 2 -17 15    
  5 2001-2006 112 -3 -15 10    
BBS N.Ireland 11 1995-2006 54 23 -45 113    
  10 1996-2006 59 22 -25 60    
  5 2001-2006 70 -2 -19 18    

BBS acknowledgement
 
CBC/BBS England graph
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
BBS Wales graph
BBS N Ireland graph
 

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Mistle Thrush

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2006		 Change Comment
Clutch size 38 1968-2006 35 Linear increase 3.88 eggs 4.09 eggs 5.4%  
Brood size 38 1968-2006 67 None        
Daily failure rate (eggs) 38 1968-2006 57 None        
Daily failure rate (chicks) 38 1968-2006 60 None        
Laying date 38 1968-2006 29 None       Small sample

 
Clutch size graph
Brood size graph
Egg nest failure graph
Chick nest failure graph
Laying date graph

 

 

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species
 

Additional information
BTO blue divider
 

BTO Home | JNCC Home
 © British Trust for Ornithology. Charity No 216652 (England and Wales).Charity No SC039193 (Scotland)
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., 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