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BTO Blueline
HOBBY
Falco subbuteo

Hobby © John Marchant
 

• 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: increase
UK population size
2,200 pairs in 2000 (Clements 2001: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
This species cannot be monitored by any of the standard monitoring schemes, due to its low population density and unobtrusive habits. Many sightings must refer to migrants, first-summer non-breeders, or to breeding birds from distant nests, and do not help to establish whether nesting occurs in the locality. Dedicated observers and specialised field methods are required, as described by Hardey et al. (2006). The Rare Breeding Birds Panel collects annual data, which under-represent the true population to unknown degrees, but adequately establish the long-term upward trend (Holling & RBBP 2008). The Hobby's distribution has spread markedly northwards in England since the 1970s (Gibbons et al. 1993), perhaps linked to increases in its dragonfly prey supplies (Prince & Clarke 1993) and to a decreasing dependency on its traditional heathland habitat, but the reasons underlying the increase are still only speculative (Clements 2001). A success rate of more than 90% was recorded for nests in Derbyshire during 1992–2001, with successful nests fledging a mean of 2.44 young (Messenger & Roome 2007). The small annual samples of nest record cards indicate no long-term change in either brood size or nest success.
 

Population changes
Annual breeding population changes for this species are not currently monitored by BTO
 

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Hobby

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2006		 Change Comment
Brood size 38 1968-2006 18 None       Small sample
Daily failure rate (chicks) 38 1968-2006 12 None       Small sample

 

 

Insufficient data on clutch size
available for this species
Brood size graph

 

Insufficient data on nest failure
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on nestling failure
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on laying date
available for this species

 

 

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species

 
 

Additional information
BTO blue divider
 

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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