Redpoll (Common Redpoll)
Carduelis flammea
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Distribution Britain 1,754 (-11.3%) Ireland 538 (-35.9%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 160,000 — Ireland 70,000
European status: 1,500,000 (15% in Britain and Ireland =4)
British population trend: widespread serious declines (-89% CBC){-92%}
How likely are you to record it? 286 squares (6.4%) Ranked 74 [50=]
A hundred years ago the characteristic calls of the Redpoll were heard in summer in most areas of Britain and Ireland. The race breeding with us is cabaret but a very few continental flammea have been recorded breeding — mostly in northern Scotland. In Ireland it was still spreading west but seems to have been fairly common. In England the birds were rare south of a line from the Wash to the Severn. They were more common further north and in the upland areas of Wales. They were absent from the Outer, and many of the Inner, Hebrides, Shetland and probably Orkney. The expansion continued for a time but the species started to decline from 1920 for about 30 years when a new expansion started. By the time of the first Breeding Atlas a few bred in Cornwall, Orkney and the Outer Hebrides but the was a very obvious gap, about 100 kilometres square, from the New Forest northwards. Huge losses were recorded in the second Breeding Atlas particularly in south and East Ireland, North-east Scotland and the midlands of England. The CBC index, having increased five-fold in the late 1960s and early 1970s, plummeted by 89% (1972-96)! Redpolls are still around and have increased rapidly in the past — let's hope they do it again.
The following Bird On! picture is available:
Redpoll (Watercolour by Robert Gillmor)
The following Bird On! sketch is available:
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead