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WOOD WARBLER
Phylloscopus sibilatrix
Wood Warbler © Adrian Cawthorne
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: SPEC category 2 (declining)
UK: amber (25–50% population decline)
UK Biodiversity Action Plan: priority species
Long-term trend
UK: decline
UK population size
17,200 (15,830–18,570) males in 1984–85 (Bibby 1989: APEP06); 9,000–10,500 pairs in 2000 (updated using BBS trend: BiE04)
Status summary
Wood Warblers, which have a westerly distribution in Britain, were covered relatively poorly until BBS began. Little change was apparent at the few CBC plots on which the species occurred (Marchant et al. 1990, Crick et al. 1998). The species' breeding range varied little between the two atlas periods (Gibbons et al. 1993), but has subsequently retreated heavily from lowland England. BBS shows a rapid and significant decline since 1994, and accordingly the species has been moved from the green to the amber list. Nest success has apparently improved considerably at the egg stage, although nest record samples are small. Numbers have fallen widely in Europe since 1980 (PECBMS 2007). With declines evident across northern and western Europe, this previously 'secure' species is now provisionally categorised as 'declining' (BirdLife International 2004).
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Wood Warbler

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
BBS UK 11 1995-2006 53 -58 -70 -44 >50  
  10 1996-2006 53 -53 -67 -36 >50  
  5 2001-2006 47 -16 -44 13    

BBS acknowledgement
 

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Wood Warbler

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2006		 Change Comment
Clutch size 38 1968-2006 16 None       Small sample
Brood size 38 1968-2006 36 None        
Daily failure rate (eggs) 38 1968-2006 21 Linear decline 1.91% nests/day 0.79% nests/day -58.6% Small sample
Daily failure rate (chicks) 38 1968-2006 27 None       Small sample
Laying date 38 1968-2006 31 Curvilinear May 23 May 18 -5 days  

 
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