Lesser Whitethroat
Sylvia curruca
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Distribution Britain 1,271 (+16.2%) Ireland 1
Numbers breeding: Britain 80,000 Ireland ~1 European status: 2,200,000 (4% in Britain and Ireland =9) British population trend: stable after decline (-24% farm CBC){+17%} How likely are you to record it? 365 squares (8.1%) Ranked 67 |
The Lesser Whitethroat was much confused with the Whitethroat earlier but by the end of the 19th century its distribution was established as very much the same as for the first Breeding Atlas. The birds migrate to the South-east and were virtually absent from South Wales, Devon and Cornwall and just crept into Scotland (possibly absent for some time around 1960s) and West Wales. The birds expanded much more by the second Atlas. Several areas in Scotland have established populations, breeding is more extensive in northern England and West Wales and singing birds have been found in Orkney, Shetland, the Isle of Man and even Ireland: where there have been recent winter records. However a very stable CBC graph showed a small scale decline in the late 1980s and the 5-year BBS index is down significantly by 36%. Are there troubles in the wintering area? A species to watch and worry about.
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead