Blackbird Turdus merula
Breeding distribution change
Common resident, partial migrant, also winterer from north Britain/Europe
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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 Blackbird 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
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Gains and improvements
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
5
1%
Present to breeding
44
5%
Absent to breeding
1
<1%
No change
Status
Nos tetrads
Present in both
15
2%
Breeding in both
708
77%
Losses and declines
Status
Nos tetrads
Present to absent
3
<1%
Breeding to present
138
15%
Breeding to absent
1
<1%
Blackbirds breed from various Atlantic islands (the Canaries and Azores, north to the Faroes and Iceland) to North Africa, Europe (except for north Fenno-Scandia, north and much of southern Russia), Asia Minor and the Middle East, parts of southern Asia, Sri Lanka and eastern China. They have also been introduced into southern Australia and New Zealand.
They are one of the commonest birds in Britain, absent only from a few of the highest areas in Scotland and from some remote islands. Though still present, they are thinner on the ground in upland areas of Wales, northern England and Scotland.. National surveys show that numbers in Britain declined by a third between the mid 1970s and the mid 1990s, but this was partially reversed by a 23% increase between 1995 and 2010. The British population is almost entirely sedentary,though a small number migrate to France or Ireland in winter. On the other hand, large numbers from Fenno-Scandia, Germany and the Low Countries move into Britain in autumn, mainly on passage to winter in southwest Europe, though a proportion remain to winter in Britain.
In Wiltshire they have always been so common that they are taken for granted and receive little coverage in the records except for remarks on out of the ordinary features such as unusual nest sites, early arrivals or abnormal plumage. Birds of Wiltshire recorded them in 909 of the county's 915 tetrads, with breeding in 847 of them. WTA2 found them in 911 tetrads, with breeding in 753.
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.