Carrion Crow Corvus corone
Winter abundance 2007–2012
Common and increasing resident, spreading more into urban areas
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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 Carrion Crow 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 winter relative abundance of the species in Wiltshire, based on variation from the average, as revealed by the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Key
Relative to average
Nos tetrads
>50% fewer
279
30%
25-50% fewer
180
20%
Average +/- 25%
235
26%
25-100% more
125
14%
>100% more
85
9%
Total
904
99%
Carrion Crows of the nominate race C. c. corone are common in Wales and England, south and east Scotland, and in mainland Europe from Iberia east to the River Elbe in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria. A related race, C. c .orientalis, occurs in Asia, from Iran to China, Japan and Kamchatka.
In Britain Carrion Crows were long treated as pests and persecuted, particularly by gamekeepers. This persecution lessened in the late 20th century: the Common Bird Census recorded a population increase of 95% between 1968 and the end of the century, helped by improved nesting success and earlier egg-laying resulting from milder winters and earlier springs.
In Wiltshire recorders paid little attention to them in the 19th and 20th centuries beyond commenting that, despite human persecution, they were common and well distributed. The 1968-72 and 1988-91 Breeding Atlases and the 1981-84 Winter Atlas all recorded them in all the forty-six 10km squares wholly or partly in Wiltshire. Birds of Wiltshire recorded them in 889 tetrads, with breeding in 578. WTA2 showed a marginal increase, with breeding recorded in 592 of the 910 tetrads where they were present.
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: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“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.