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STOCK DOVE
Columba oenas
Stock Dove © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information

Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (>20% of European breeding population)
Long-term trend
England: rapid increase
UK population size
309,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Following release from the lethal and sublethal effects of the organochlorine seed-dressings used in the 1950s and early 1960s, Stock Dove populations have increased very substantially (O'Connor & Mead 1984). Numbers appeared to level off in the early 1980s, and entered a further increasing phase in the early 1990s. Recent indices suggest that numbers have fallen slightly. The increase in nest failure rates at the egg stage, now reversed, was not detectable in farmland habitats alone (Siriwardena et al. 2000b). Overall, nest failure rates have fallen substantially.
 

Population changes

CBC/BBS England graph
 
Table of population changes for Stock Dove

Source Period
(yrs)
Years Plots
(n)
Change
(%)
Lower
limit
Upper
limit
Alert Comment
CBC/BBS England 39 1967-2006 248 163 79 293    
  25 1981-2006 353 7 -13 32    
  10 1996-2006 673 -2 -12 11    
  5 2001-2006 703 -11 -17 -3    
BBS UK 11 1995-2006 681 2 -7 13    
  10 1996-2006 696 0 -8 10    
  5 2001-2006 764 -7 -14 0    
BBS England 11 1995-2006 628 0 -11 11    
  10 1996-2006 641 -2 -12 9    
  5 2001-2006 703 -10 -16 -2    

BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
 

Productivity trends

Table of productivity changes for Stock Dove

Variable Period
(yrs)
Years Mean
annual
sample
Trend Modelled
in first year
Modelled
in 2006
Change Comment
Clutch size 38 1968-2006 80 None        
Brood size 38 1968-2006 111 Curvilinear 1.82 chicks 1.84 chicks 1%  
Daily failure rate (eggs) 38 1968-2006 78 Curvilinear 1.2% nests/day 0.36% nests/day -70%  
Daily failure rate (chicks) 38 1968-2006 57 Linear decline 1.2% nests/day 0.71% nests/day -40.8%  
Laying date 38 1968-2006 16 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

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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