BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Kingfisher

KINGFISHER
Alcedo atthis

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 3, depleted
UK: amber (European status)

Long-term trend

UK waterways: fluctuating, with no long-term trend

UK population size

4,800–8,000 pairs in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using WBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)

Status summary

The Kingfisher declined along linear waterways (its principal habitat) until the mid 1980s, since when it seems to have made a complete recovery. The decline was associated with a contraction of range in England (Gibbons et al. 1993). Kingfishers suffer severe mortality during harsh winters but, with up to three broods in a season, and up to six chicks in a brood, their potential for rapid population growth is unusually high. Amber listing of this species in the UK results from its 'depleted' status in Europe as a whole, following declines between 1970 and 1990 (BirdLife International 2004).

1975-2008: -5% (confidence interval -36% to 34%)

Population changes in detail

Demographic trends

Additional information


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This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Leech, D.I., Renwick, A.R., Joys, A.C., Noble, D.G., Barimore, C., Conway, G.J., Downie, I.S., Risely, K. & Robinson, R.A. (2010). Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2010. BTO Research Report No. 565. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Iain Downie, Mandy T Andrews and Laura Smith: Last updated 03.09.2010