Thrushes now largely restricted to the built environment in eastern England

I studied the distribution and density of three thrush populations, blackbird Turdus merula, song thrush T. philomelos and mistle thrush T. viscivorus, in an urban and contiguous rural area, totalling 2636 ha, in eastern England. Populations of these species are declining and I found 826, 85 and 30...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Diversity & distributions 2000-07, Vol.6 (4), p.189-194
Main Author: Mason, Christopher F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biodiversity Research
Biological and medical sciences
Bird songs
Birds
Built environment
Built environments
conservation
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Farmlands
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Habitat conservation
habitats
Metropolitan areas
Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking
Rural areas
Rural density
Turdus merula
Turdus philomelos
Turdus viscivorus
Urban density
Urban habitats
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Summary:I studied the distribution and density of three thrush populations, blackbird Turdus merula, song thrush T. philomelos and mistle thrush T. viscivorus, in an urban and contiguous rural area, totalling 2636 ha, in eastern England. Populations of these species are declining and I found 826, 85 and 30 territories of blackbird, song thrush and mistle thrush, respectively. Significantly more territories of all species than expected were within the urban boundary. Significantly more territories than expected were found of all three species in the built environment (residential housing, factories, schools, etc. with their associated gardens and green-space), urban and rural areas combined. Farmland occupied 67% of the study area but held significantly fewer blackbird and mistle thrush territories than expected, associated mainly with the small amount of grass; song thrushes were not recorded on farmland. Rural woodland and scrub held more blackbird and song thrush territories than expected. Song thrush was significantly associated with scrub within the urban boundary. With all three species largely absent from farmland, residential habitats can be considered as habitat refuges. The consequences of this for conservation and planning are discussed.
ISSN:1366-9516
1472-4642
DOI:10.1046/j.1472-4642.2000.00084.x