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BTO Blueline
TUFTED DUCK
Aythya fuligula
Tufted Duck © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: SPEC category 3 (declining)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK: shallow increase
UK population size
7,000–8,000 pairs in GB in 1979–83 (Owen et al. 1986: APEP06); 10,200–11,500 pairs in UK in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using WBS trend: BiE04)
Status summary
The colonisation of the UK by Tufted Ducks, which began in 1849, was aided by the spread of the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha, a non-native invasive species that had been introduced accidentally to Britain a few decades earlier. The long-term shallow increase shown by WBS, and the 15% increase in range in Britain between the two atlas periods (Gibbons et al. 1993) may indicate that population expansion and in-filling of range are still occurring. BBS data suggest significant further increase since 1994, in England and in the UK as a whole. The species' winter trend in the UK since the 1960s, which includes many continental visitors, is also shallowly upward overall (Austin et al. 2008). In contrast, moderate recent declines elsewhere in northern Europe have resulted in reclassification as a species of conservation concern (BirdLife International 2004).
 

Population changes
WBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Tufted Duck

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
WBS waterways 31 1975-2006 23 15 -57 168    
  25 1981-2006 24 4 -53 127    
  10 1996-2006 25 -6 -42 56    
  5 2001-2006 17 -12 -36 23   Small sample
BBS UK 11 1995-2006 136 46 14 81    
  10 1996-2006 140 40 10 67    
  5 2001-2006 145 16 -8 39    
BBS England 11 1995-2006 117 27 -1 64    
  10 1996-2006 121 21 -3 54    
  5 2001-2006 125 11 -6 30    

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