Jay (Eurasian Jay)
Garrulus glandarius
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Distribution Britain 1,713 (-1.8%) Ireland 269 (-32.2%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 160,000 Ireland 10,000 European status: 6,500,000 (3% in Britain and Ireland =10) British population trend: stable (-1% CBC, -33% farm){-4%} How likely are you to record it? 1098 squares (24.4%) Ranked 44 [71=] |
A hundred years ago the Jay was in retreat being persecuted by keepers and for its plumage — both for fly-tying and for the millinery trade. This meant that the breeding birds were confined to the south-east corner of Ireland and in Scotland had been exterminated from Ayrshire and some other areas in Scotland. Otherwise it bred up to the Highland fringe. The Irish birds, a separate race hibernicus, have gradually spread west and north to occupy about two-thirds of the country by the time of the first Breeding Atlas and a bit further by the second. Jays in Ireland are thinly distributed. In Scotland Jays have increased and are expanding north with breeding recently proved in Moray and Nairn and the Great Glen occupied between the two Breeding Atlases. CBC indices have been relatively stable but on farmland there has been a recent decline (also on BBS down 17% in five years). This may be because these are really woodland birds and the intensification of farming has affected them there. Woodland Jays, at least, seem to be doing well.
The following Bird On! picture is available:
Jay (Watercolour by Robert Gillmor)
The following Bird On! sketch is available:
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead