Whinchat
Saxicola rubetra
   |
|
Distribution Britain 1,404 (-16.2%) Ireland 124 (-35.1%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 21,000 Ireland 1,900 European status: 2,700,000 (1% in Britain and Ireland) British population trend: gradually declining How likely are you to record it? 183 squares (4.1%) Ranked 91= [88=] |
Whinchats were very common birds over most of mainland Britain 100 years ago breeding in rough pasture, waste ground, roadside verges, railway embankments, etc. They were not particularly common in Cornwall, few breeding in the Western Isles and none on Shetland or the Isle of Man. In Ireland most were in the northern half. A decline in lowland Britain started sixty or seventy years ago and this has continued with many losses between the two Breeding Atlases so that now the strongholds are in the uplands of Wales, northern England and throughout Scotland. Breeding is now regular in the Isle of Man and on the Western Isles but not on Orkney. In Ireland the birds seem to have shifted to the Midlands by 1950 and then increased generally by the first Breeding Atlas, but declined badly by the second. Many of the losses in lowland areas are probably associated with early cutting of the grass, where they breed, and general tidying up. Further losses from lowland Britain and Ireland seem to be expected.
The following Bird On! sketch is available:
Whinchat
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead