Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus
Winter abundance change
Common resident and perhaps partial migrant
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Mistle Thrush maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
Map explanation
This map shows the changes which occurred in the winter relative abundance of the species between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, but only in the limited selection of tetrads that were surveyed in winter for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007).
Key
Relative to average
Nos tetrads
More abundant
148
33%
Equally abundant
38
9%
Less abundant
167
38%
Not surveyed in both periods
Mistle Thrushes breed from northwest Africa through much of Europe east into Siberia and also into Turkey, patchily eastward through northern Iran to central Asia and the northwest Himalayas. The northern and east European and most of the Asian populations are migratory, wintering in or just beyond the south of the breeding range.
Mistle Thrushes reached Britain in the late 19th century as part of an outward expansion from their place of origin in the middle-altitude montane forests of continental Europe, arriving first in the north then spreading south to colonise virtually the whole of the country apart from some of the highest parts of the Scottish uplands. In the breeding season they are also absent from the Outer Hebrides and the Scottish Northern Isles, though in winter these islands are occupied by migrants from the mainland. While there have been only minimal changes in distribution since 1970, abundance figures since that date have shown a marked downward trend. BBS surveys revealed a 35% population decline between 1995 and 2010.
In Wiltshire Mistle Thrushes were already being described as common by the end of the 19th century. In the 20th century the species mirrored the national trend of stability up until the mid 1970s, followed by a down-turn in numbers (though not in range) up to and beyond the end of the century. Birds of Wiltshire recorded them in 688 tetrads with breeding in 392. WTA2 found them in 574 tetrads with breeding in 385.
References
The following references are used throughout these species’ accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007: Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011”-– Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: The Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland. BTO Books.
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.