Yellow Wagtail
Motacilla flava
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Distribution Britain 1,047 (-9.4%) Ireland 3 (-25.0%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 50,000 Ireland 0 European status: 4,500,000 (1% in Britain and Ireland) British population trend: widespread declines (-25% CBC){-13%} How likely are you to record it? 319 squares (7.1%) Ranked 70 |
The race of Yellow Wagtail commonly breeding in Britain is flavissima and a few of these breed in Norway, the Netherlands and Northern France. A few of the nominate race flava breed here and there are sometimes birds showing the characteristics of other subspecies. At the turn of the century most bred south of the line from the Tees to Morecambe Bay, east of the mountains in Wales and from Dorset eastwards. There were small populations north to the Highlands of Scotland. In Ireland colonies round Lough Neagh had become extinct by 1944 and round the Galway and Mayo Loughs (Corrib, Mask and Carra) by about 80 years ago. In Ireland there have been more than 30 possible breeding attempts, mostly near the East Coast (especially Co. Wicklow marshes), since 1950 with some Blue-headed (flava) birds involved. In Scotland the birds retreated as regular breeders from many of their former nesting areas with Ayr and Lanark remaining as the stronghold and only a few pairs or sporadic nesting elsewhere. The second Breeding Atlas showed losses in Wales, southern and northern England and the declines in the CBC, WBS and, most recently, 30% in the five years 1994-98 on the BBS are of great concern. The damp pastures and marshy areas where it used to breed are becoming rarer and rarer. They often nest in tangled crops like vining peas or potatoes, which are harvested too early for the birds to complete even one breeding attempt. This species is in need of our help.
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead