Wood Warbler
Phylloscopus sibilatrix
   |
|
Distribution Britain 1,270 (+3.3%) Ireland 28 (+250%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 17,200 Ireland 30 European status: 6,500,000 (0% in Britain and Ireland) British population trend: some losses recently (-43% BBS) How likely are you to record it? 133 squares (3.0%) Ranked 96 |
Wood Warblers were known to breed in appropriate woodland throughout the mainland of Britain at the end of the 19th century and sporadically sang in just a few places in Ireland. In the previous 100 years there had been a considerable spread north in Scotland and this continued gradually until about 1950 since when there has probably been a gradual withdrawal. There were few breeding records in Ireland until 1968 when breeding was proved in Wicklow and it gradually became more regular there and from 1980 in up to half a dozen or so other areas. The second Breeding Atlas recorded many more 10-km squares with records in Ireland and some more in South-west Wales and through Scotland but many losses from South-east Britain. There are now very few north of the Thames and east of a line from the Severn to the Humber; possibly a third of Britain's birds breed in Wales. CBC indices show fluctuations but there is recent evidence for a very worrying decline of 43% in the five-year BBS index (1994-1998). On its way out from East Anglia and some other areas.
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead