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BTO Blueline
LESSER REDPOLL
Carduelis cabaret

Lesser Redpoll © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings

Europe (C. cabaret/flammea): no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: amber (>50% population decline but data possibly unrepresentative, >20% of European breeding population)
UK Biodiversity Action Plan: priority species
Long-term trend
England: rapid decline
UK population size
26,900 pairs in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Lesser Redpolls were abundant and widespread on CBC and CES plots in lowland Britain in the 1970s, but are largely absent now as breeding birds after a sustained period of severe decline. Uncertainty about the representativeness of the monitoring data prior to the establishment of BBS has so far denied the species a place on the red list, since it was thought possible that the population may have withdrawn from the lowlands to northern and western UK regions, where monitoring prior to 1994 was less effective. No evidence for such a shift exists, however. The 1988–91 Atlas showed a range contraction of 11% since 1968–72, which is evident in all parts of the UK (Gibbons et al. 1993). The species has been moved from the green to the amber list, although the apparent extent of its decline clearly warrants red-listing. In southern Britain, at least, decrease may be attributable to a reduction in the amount of suitable young forest growth (Fuller et al. 2005). CES data indicate a rapid long-term decline in productivity, and there is evidence that survival rates have also fallen (Siriwardena et al. 1998a). Since C. cabaret is now widely treated as a separate species from the Common Redpoll C. flammea, and has a restricted range that lies wholly within western Europe, it is likely to gain a European conservation listing at the next review.
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS England graph
 
Table of population changes for Lesser Redpoll

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS England 39 1967-2006 43 -90 -96 -78 >50  
  25 1981-2006 40 -95 -98 -91 >50 Small CBC sample
  10 1996-2006 56 -33 -51 13    
  5 2001-2006 61 -11 -43 22    
CES adults 22 1984-2006 17 -96 -99 -91 >50 Small sample
  10 1996-2006 12 -86 -95 -72 >50 Small sample
BBS UK 11 1995-2006 133 6 -15 37    
  10 1996-2006 137 1 -18 31    
  5 2001-2006 142 -4 -20 20    
BBS England 11 1995-2006 54 -34 -58 -6 >25  
  10 1996-2006 55 -35 -60 -9 >25  
  5 2001-2006 61 -14 -44 12    
BBS Scotland 11 1995-2006 37 -7 -39 44    
  10 1996-2006 37 -12 -40 34    
  5 2001-2006 34 -18 -34 18    

BBS acknowledgement
 
CES adult abundance graph
CES juvenile abundance graph
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
 

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Lesser Redpoll

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2006		 Change Comment
Daily failure rate (eggs) 38 1968-2006 10 None       Small sample
Laying date 38 1968-2006 11 Curvilinear May 26 May 19 -7 days Small sample
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 22 1984-2006 18 Smoothed trend 378 Index value 100 Index value -74% Small sample
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 10 1996-2006 13 Smoothed trend 203 Index value 100 Index value -51% Small sample

 

 

Insufficient data on clutch size
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on brood size
available for this species

 

Egg nest failure graph

 

 

Insufficient data on nestling failure
available for this species
Laying date graph
CES productivity graph
 

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 11.03.2009