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BTO Blueline
WHINCHAT
Saxicola rubetra
 Whinchat © G H Higginbotham
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK: decline
UK population size
14,000–28,000 pairs in 1990 (1988–91 Atlas: APEP06); 11,000–22,100 pairs in 2000 (updated using BBS trend: BiE04)
Status summary
Whinchats were not monitored until the BBS began in 1994. By then, however, Gibbons et al. (1993) had already identified a major range contraction, mainly from lowland England, that was probably at least partly due to the loss of marginal farmland habitats (Marchant et al. 1990). Further extinctions have occurred since then among the remaining pockets of lowland breeders. BBS data indicate that further strong population decline took place during the 1990s, raising BTO alerts for the UK as a whole as well as for England. Nest record samples are small, but indicate substantial recent rises in nest losses at the egg and chick stages, which are of NRS concern (Leech & Barimore 2008). Whinchats are estimated to have declined by 55% across Europe during 1980–2005 (PECBMS 2007). Despite these changes, the species currently has no conservation listings.
 

Population changes
BBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Whinchat

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
BBS UK 11 1995-2006 74 -38 -53 -18 >25  
  10 1996-2006 73 -38 -53 -18 >25  
  5 2001-2006 62 -14 -29 5    
BBS England 11 1995-2006 30 -34 -60 -9 >25  
  10 1996-2006 30 -32 -58 -9 >25  

BBS acknowledgement
 

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Whinchat

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2006		 Change Comment
Clutch size 38 1968-2006 12 None       Small sample
Brood size 38 1968-2006 37 None        
Daily failure rate (eggs) 38 1968-2006 15 Linear increase 0.65% nests/day 2.17% nests/day 233.8% Small sample
Daily failure rate (chicks) 38 1968-2006 26 Curvilinear 2.61% nests/day 2.61% nests/day 0% Small sample
Laying date 38 1968-2006 27 Curvilinear May 28 May 23 -5 days 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