Wider Countryside Report Header
BTO Blueline
Main WCR menu image Site navigation menu item Results overview menu item Other info menu item BTO website menu item
BTO Blueline
REED BUNTING
Emberiza schoeniclus
Reed Bunting © Tommy Holden
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: red (>50% population decline)
UK Biodiversity Action Plan: click here
Long-term trend
UK, England: shallow decline
UK population size
192,000–211,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS and WBS trends: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
Red-listing for this species is based on a 62% decline on CBC plots between 1974 and 1999. Both CBC/BBS and WBS indices declined rapidly during the 1970s, but Reed Bunting abundance subsequently remained remarkably stable. In recent years, BBS results indicate significant population increase. The early increase in the CBC index was associated with a gradual spread into drier habitats, especially farmland, and it is likely that the subsequent decline was related to agricultural intensification. Detailed demographic analyses suggest that the decline was driven by decreasing survival rates and that a subsequent population recovery may have been prevented by increased nest losses (Peach et al. 1999). This is supported by a moderate decline in CES productivity and by a significant increase in failure rates at the egg stage, which has raised NRS concern (Leech & Barimore 2008). Farmland densities are four times higher in oilseed rape than in cereals or setaside and this crop is crucial in reducing the dependency of the species on wetlands (Gruar et al. 2006).
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS UK graph
 
Table of population changes for Reed Bunting

Source Period
(yrs)		 Years Plots
(n)		 Change
(%)		 Lower
limit		 Upper
limit		 Alert Comment
CBC/BBS UK 39 1967-2006 194 -19 -36 3    
  25 1981-2006 242 9 -11 31    
  10 1996-2006 441 30 19 44    
  5 2001-2006 478 26 15 38    
CBC/BBS England 39 1967-2006 153 -22 -41 -1    
  25 1981-2006 187 7 -14 28    
  10 1996-2006 332 30 19 44    
  5 2001-2006 353 29 20 37    
WBS waterways 31 1975-2006 51 -61 -75 -33 >50  
  25 1981-2006 53 -31 -54 17    
  10 1996-2006 53 10 -14 66    
  5 2001-2006 44 16 -1 41    
CES adults 22 1984-2006 59 -51 -64 -36 >50  
  10 1996-2006 68 -25 -36 -12    
  5 2001-2006 59 -2 -12 12    
CES juveniles 22 1984-2006 42 -74 -84 -59 >50  
  10 1996-2006 47 -49 -60 -32 >25  
  5 2001-2006 43 -26 -40 -9 >25  
BBS UK 11 1995-2006 406 28 17 41    
  10 1996-2006 416 30 18 42    
  5 2001-2006 478 24 16 36    
BBS England 11 1995-2006 303 25 12 34    
  10 1996-2006 309 31 18 40    
  5 2001-2006 353 27 18 36    
BBS Scotland 11 1995-2006 48 42 16 83    
  10 1996-2006 48 41 10 79    
  5 2001-2006 56 21 -7 53    

BBS acknowledgement
 
CBC/BBS England graph
WBS UK graph
CES Adult abundance graph
CES juvenile abundance graph
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
 

Productivity trends
Table of productivity changes for Reed Bunting

Variable Period
(yrs)		 Years Mean
annual
sample		 Trend Modelled
in first year		 Modelled
in 2006		 Change Comment
Clutch size 38 1968-2006 44 None        
Brood size 38 1968-2006 61 None        
Daily failure rate (eggs) 38 1968-2006 52 Linear increase 0.73% nests/day 2.74% nests/day 275.3%  
Daily failure rate (chicks) 38 1968-2006 52 None        
Laying date 38 1968-2006 48 None        
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 22 1984-2006 62 Smoothed trend 217 Index value 100 Index value -54% >50  
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 10 1996-2006 71 Smoothed trend 171 Index value 100 Index value -42% >25  
Juvenile to Adult ratio (CES) 5 2001-2006 62 Smoothed trend 127 Index value 100 Index value -21%  

 
Clutch size graph
Brood size graph

Egg nest failure graph

Chick nest failure graph

Laying date graph
CES productivity graph
 

Additional information
BTO blue divider
 

BTO Home | JNCC Home
 © British Trust for Ornithology. Charity No 216652 (England and Wales).Charity No SC039193 (Scotland)
Company Limited by Guarantee No 357284 (England and Wales).
Registered Office: The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK.
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement          Email:


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