Lesser Whitethroat

Curruca curruca (Linnaeus, 1758) LW LESWH 12740
Family: Passeriformes > Sylviidae

Lesser Whitethroat, Philip Croft

The Lesser Whitethroat is secretive bird of farmland and reedbed habitats. The distinctive song is a helpful guide to its presence.

A warbler with greyish upperparts, white undersides and a large black eye stripe, Lesser Whitethroat numbers have fluctuated in the UK since the 1960s. They primarily breed in lowland England and Wales.

Lesser Whitethroats migrate to the UK in April and return to Africa in the autumn via the eastern Mediterranean. A small number may appear in the UK outside the breeding season, almost all of which will be representatives of the eastern subspecies, blythii, 'Siberian' Lesser Whitethroat.

Exploring the trends for Lesser Whitethroat

Our Trends Explorer will also give you the latest insight into how the UK's Lesser Whitethroat population is changing.

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Identification

Lesser Whitethroat identification is sometimes difficult. The following article may help when identifying Lesser Whitethroat.

SONGS AND CALLS

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Lesser Whitethroat, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

Call

Song

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Status and Trends

Population size and trends and patterns of distribution based on BTO surveys and atlases with data collected by BTO volunteers.

CONSERVATION STATUS

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

POPULATION SIZE

POPULATION CHANGE

Lesser Whitethroat abundance was roughly stable (albeit with short-term fluctuations) from the 1960s until the late 1980s, but the CBC/BBS and CES trends provide evidence for a subsequent moderate decline that lasted into the late 1990s. These changes were statistically significant, and large enough over the relevant periods to trigger alerts. BBS has subsequently shown a significant sharp upturn, but this contrasts strongly with the continued decrease recorded by CES ringers. A northward redistribution of the UK breeding population (Balmer et al. 2013) may go some way to explaining inconsistencies in the monitoring results. Wide fluctuations in survival and productivity have been recorded by CES ringers, and may be influencing population change, but pressures during migration and in winter are the most likely causes of any decline (Fuller et al. 2005). Numbers across Europe have been broadly stable since 1980 (PECBMS: PECBMS 2020a>).

Exploring the trends for Lesser Whitethroat

Our Trends Explorer will also give you the latest insight into how the UK's Lesser Whitethroat population is changing.

trends explorer

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding Lesser Whitethroats were historically restricted to England, but range expansion over the last 40 years has seen them spread into lowland areas of Wales, northern England, southern Scotland and southwest England.

Occupied 10-km squares in UK

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Relative frequency by habitat

Relative occurrence in different habitat types during the breeding season.

>Bar of similar size indicate the species is equally likely to be recorded in those habitats

DISTRIBUTION CHANGE

Lesser Whitethroat breeding range has expanded by 33% since the 1970s. Increases in the north and decreases in abundance in the south suggest a range shift may be underway.

Change in occupied 10-km squares in the UK

SEASONALITY

Lesser Whitethroat is a summer visitor, arriving in mid April; after singing it is generally harder to detect until autumn when a pulse of passage migrants can be encountered in August and September. Later migrants may be of eastern origin. A handful of birds winter.

Weekly occurence of Lesser Whitethroat from BirdTrack
Weekly occurrence patterns (shaded cells) and reporting rates (vertical bars) based on BirdTrack data. Reporting rates give the likelihood of encountering the species each week.

Movement

Information about movement and migration based on online bird portals (e.g. BirdTrack), Ringing schemes and tracking studies.

An overview of year-round movements for the whole of Europe can be seen on the EuroBirdPortal viewer.

RINGING RECOVERIES

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

Foreign locations of Lesser Whitethroat ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland
Encountered in: Winter (Nov-Feb); Spring (Mar-Apr); Summer (May-Jul); Autumn (Aug-Oct)

Biology

Lifecycle and body size information about Lesser Whitethroat, including statistics on nesting, eggs and lifespan based on BTO ringing and nest recording data.

PRODUCTIVITY & NESTING

Exploring the trends for Lesser Whitethroat

Our Trends Explorer will also give you the latest insight into how the UK's Lesser Whitethroat population is changing.

trends explorer

SURVIVAL & LONGEVITY

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Exploring the trends for Lesser Whitethroat

Our Trends Explorer will also give you the latest insight into how the UK's Lesser Whitethroat population is changing.

trends explorer

BIOMETRICS

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

CODES & CLASSIFICATION

For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name

Gaelic: Gealan-coille-beag
Welsh: Llwydfron Fach
Catalan: tallarol xerraire
Czech: penice pokrovní
Danish: Gærdesanger
Dutch: Braamsluiper
Estonian: väike-põõsalind
Finnish: hernekerttu
French: Fauvette babillarde
German: Klappergrasmücke
Hungarian: kis poszáta
Icelandic: Netlusöngvari
Irish: Gilphíb Bheag
Italian: Bigiarella
Latvian: gaišais kaukis
Lithuanian: pilkoji devynbalse
Norwegian: Møller
Polish: piegza
Portuguese: papa-amoras-cinzento
Slovak: penica popolavá
Slovenian: mlinarcek
Spanish: Curruca zarcerilla
Swedish: ärtsångare

Research

Interpretation and scientific publications about Lesser Whitethroat from BTO scientists.

CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS

Causes of change

There is little good evidence available regarding the drivers of the breeding population change in this species in the UK.

Further information on causes of change

No further information is available.

Information about conservation actions

There is no good evidence to explain why the population of Lesser Whitethroat has fluctuated and therefore few specific conservation actions have been proposed to benefit this species.

A study in Strathclyde found that mixed scrubby areas (mature hawthorn interspersed with bramble, dog rose, gorse and willow) were important and that the birds preferred areas from which grazing animals were denied access by fencing (Byars et al. 1991). However, it should be noted that this was based on only seven occupied territories at the edge of the species range. A Polish study also found that Lesser Whitethroat preferred habitat with structural heterogeneity and that they favoured shrubs ( Szymanski & Antczak 2013).

Links to more information from ConservationEvidence.com

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