Starling (Common Starling)
Sturnus vulgaris
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Distribution Britain 2,620 (-3.6%) Ireland 957 (-2.3%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 1,100,000 — Ireland 360,000 + European status: 40,000,000 (4% in Britain and Ireland = 7=) British population trend: severe decline (-45% CBC, -77% wood){-58%} How likely are you to record it? 3,195 squares (71.1%) Ranked 10 [15] |
This is a species that most people think has been universally common throughout Britain and Ireland since the beginning of recorded time — not so! In Scotland 200 years ago it was only breeding (and there it was common) in the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland and the very far north-east of Caithness. They increased to cover the whole country by 100 years ago and gradually became more common for the next 50 years. In England and Wales there had been considerable expansion north and west during the 19th century and increases were noted early in the 20th century. These increases were mirrored in Ireland where the far south-east was only fully colonised about 40 years ago. Between the two Breeding Atlases there have been considerable losses from North-west Scotland including some of the Inner Hebrides. These are not easy birds to survey in the CBC but the steady index until about 1980 dipped then and has halved — the five-year BBS index (1994-98) has gone down by 13%. These remarkable losses by such a common species seem to be happening over much of North-west Europe and are of considerable concern. On intensively farmed land it is thought that the lack of suitable invertebrate food for the chicks is causing poor breeding productivity. Recent losses are very worrying — is the Starling going to disappear just as quickly as it arrived two centuries ago?
The following Bird On! sketch is available:
Starling
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead