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BTO Blueline
MOORHEN
Gallinula chloropus
 Moorhen © G H Higginbotham
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: green
Long-term trend
UK: probable shallow increase
UK population size
270,000 pairs in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
While the long-term CBC/BBS trend is of shallow increase, much of the population increase took place before 1974, when WBS monitoring began, and may have been a recovery from heavy mortality during the cold winters of the early 1960s. On both CBC/BBS and WBS/WBBS evidence, there was decrease during the 1970s and 1980s, but this has been followed by a partial recovery. A decline in the number and quality of farmland ponds, and the spread of American mink Mustela vison, which is an important predator especially along watercourses, have been suggested as possible causes of decline. The failure rate of nests over the full 25-day egg period (20 days for incubation and 5 days for laying) has increased, earning the species a place on the NRS concern list (Leech & Barimore 2008), but average brood sizes have increased and no trend has been evident in the number of fledglings per breeding attempt.
 
CBC/CBBS UK graph

1967-2008: 29% (confidence interval -3% to 55%)

 
Population changes in detail
 

 Demographic trends
Fledglings per breeding attempt graph
Laying date graph
 
 
More on 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 06.10.2010