Collared Dove (Eurasian Collared Dove)
Streptopelia decaocto
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Distribution Britain 2,210 (+6.7%) Ireland 559 (-2.8%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 200,000 Ireland 30,000 territories European status: 7,000,000 (4% in Britain and Ireland =6) British population trend: up and up! (+514% CBC){+782%} How likely are you to record it? 2167 squares (48.3%) Ranked 26 [43] |
This grey and noisy small dove is the success story of the 20th century. They started to breed in Britain when they reached Norfolk in 1955. They were in Kent and Lincolnshire and had reached Scotland in 1957. Ireland was colonised two years later with birds breeding in Dublin and also, far to the west, in Galway and Wales in 1961. They had been no nearer than Hungary in 1932! By 1970 there may have been as many as 25,000 pairs in Britain and Ireland. Even the CBC index, biased towards areas colonised early on, increased five fold between 1972 and 1996! The birds now breed over most of the country where there are human settlements but are rather less common in the far west and on islands and high ground. Definitely here to stay!
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead