Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus
Winter distribution change
Scarce passage, has possibly nested, breeds Britain/Fenno-Scandia, winters Spain/north Africa
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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 Ring Ouzel 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 the changes which occurred in the winter distribution 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
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
4
1%
Present in both
0
0%
Present to absent
0
0%
Not surveyed
British Ring Ouzels are of the nominate race which breed from Ireland and west Great Britain through northwest France, west and north Fenno-Scandia and northern Russia. Other subspecies are found in northern Spain, central and east Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan and North Africa.
In Britain they nest mostly above the 250m contour, on northern and western moorland from Scotland down through England and Wales to Devon. The British population winter in Spain and North Africa.
In Wiltshire in the 19th century Ring Ouzels were regularly seen in good numbers on migration, but by the 1930s they had become uncommon, with only five records in the decade from 1929-1939 and none at all in the next decade up to 1950. Then from 1951 onwards they began to appear regularly again, with 26 records in the next 12 years, and a further 91 records, involving 136 birds, between 1974 and 2000. WTA2 recorded them present on passage in nine tetrads.
There has been just one possible breeding record: a bird shot at Mere in 1858 on a nest with two eggs was later identified as a Ring Ouzel. This record has been treated with some scepticism by later observers, though there were frequent 19th century records of Ring Ouzels nesting as near as the Gloucestershire side of the Cotswolds, until they were wiped out as a result of being shot by collectors.
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.