Blackbird

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Blackbird, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

UK Birds of Conservation Concern	Green listed
Species of European Conservation Concern	Least Concern
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (global)	Least Concern
Schedule 1 license required (to disturb)	No
Birds Directive Annex 1	No
Listed on the Annexes of	WCA(III), WBD(II*), Bern(III), Bonn(II)

Both CBC/BBS and CES data show long-term declines in Blackbird abundance up to about the mid 1990s followed by a strong but partial recovery, which currently has stalled. The BBS map of change in relative density between 1994-96 and 2007-09 indicates that increase over that period occurred mainly in high-rainfall parts of the country, particularly Wales, northwestern England and southern Scotland. More recent BBS data suggest that this remains the case: they show a significant decline in London since 1995, stability in the South-east, East and North-east English regions, but increasing populations in the other five English governmental regions and in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (Harris et al. 2020). The moderate-decline criterion for amber listing is no longer met, and the species has been listed in the green category since 2002.

There has been an increase across Europe since 1980 (PECBMS: PECBMS 2020a>).

UK breeding population

-19% decrease (1967–2022)

Blackbirds are among the commonest birds in Britain & Ireland, with records from 96% of 10-km squares in both the winter and the breeding season; it is absent only from a few upland and remote island 10-km squares. High densities in the east and midlands of Ireland and the lowlands of England and Wales contrast with low densities in the uplands of northern England, Scotland, Wales and western Ireland.

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Occupied 10-km squares in UK

No. occupied in breeding season	2881
% occupied in breeding season	95
No. occupied in winter	2903
% occupied in winter	96

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Breeding Season Habitats

Most frequent in	Villages, Towns
Also common in	Scrub, Arable Farmland, Pasture Farmland, Deciduous Wood

Relative frequency by habitat

Relative occurrence in different habitat types during the breeding season.

Although there has been little overall change in range size, abundance within the range has increased, particularly in square in parts of Wales and Scotland.

Blackbird is a common and widely recorded species, encountered on over 60% of complete lists in most months.

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Maximum Age from Ringing	15 years 2 months 5 days (set in 2000)
Typical Lifespan	3 years with breeding typically at 1 year
Adult Survival	0.65±0.003   (Male: 0.67±0.006 Female: 0.655±0.007)
Juvenile Survival	0.564 (in first year)

Wing Length	Adults	130.8±4.4 | Range 124–138mm, N=81803
	Juveniles	129.8±3.9 | Range 124-136mm, N=53822
	Males	132.9±3.9 | Range 126–139mm, N=42493
	Females	128.6±3.8 | Range 123–134mm, N=39130

Body Weight	Adults	102±12.1 | Range 87.0–122g, N=65475
	Juveniles	100±9.3 | Range 86.0–116g, N=42885
	Males	103±12.6 | Range 87.0–124g, N=33791
	Females	101±11.5 | Range 86.0–120g, N=31528

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

Ring size	C
Field Codes	2-letter: B. | 5-letter code: BLABI | Euring: 11870

For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name

Causes of change

The causes of change are uncertain although it is likely that reduced survival drove the initial declines. Agricultural intensification may have contributed to the decline in farmland, but other factors probably operated in woodland and urban habitats.

Further information on causes of change

CBC results show that the decline began in the mid 1970s. It is likely that reduced survival drove the decline (Siriwardena et al. 1998a), although there has been little overall change in survival as recorded by CES since 1983. Adult survival in an intensive colour-ringing study was lowest in the spring during the early breeding season and highest during the autumn (Robinson et al. 2010a); the survival rates found by this study were similar to those found by an earlier study in the 1970s (Batten 1978). However, the 2010 study covered a small geographical area and the survival rates from this area may not be representative of the whole of the UK. Subsequent demographic analysis of national data indicates that annual population changes actually correlate best with adult survival, although population processes appear to differ between eastern and western Britain (Robinson et al. 2012). Fledgling numbers per breeding attempt increased during the population decline and are now decreasing again, suggesting that productivity is density-dependent. Agricultural intensification is likely to have contributed to the population decline (Fuller et al. 1995) but, since numbers fell in woodland as well as farmland, additional factors probably operated. Analysis of nest record data suggests that different factors may affect nest survival in urban and countryside habitats, and that nest productivity is higher in intermediate (urban rural) habitats (Miller et al. 2017).

Information about conservation actions

The causes of the decline from the 1970s to the mid-1990s are uncertain and hence it is also unclear which conservation actions will be most likely to help reverse the declines. Blackbird numbers did increase from the late 1990s until around 2010, suggesting that the earlier issues may no longer be occurring, but these increases have stalled and numbers remain substantially lower than in the late 1960s.

Decreases in farmland may relate to agricultural intensification, where conservation actions to support other species may also benefit Blackbird, particularly those that could aid survival as this is suspected to be the main cause of the decline. These could include providing supplementary food over winter, managing hedgerows or woodland habitat for wildlife, and providing additional habitat, e.g. wild bird seed or cover mixtures, set-aside or grass buffer strips/margins. As Blackbird is a partial migrant, local conservation actions to support birds in winter will not necessarily benefit local populations, and changes over a large scale may hence be required in order for conservation actions to have a significant effect on British (and European) populations. During the breeding season, soil moisture can affect breeding success (Miller et al. 2017), and therefore policies that encourage damper soil may benefit Blackbirds, e.g. reduced drainage.

Much of the population of this species lives in woodland and urban areas, where declines have also occurred. Similar conservation actions to try to improve habitats in these areas would be prudent, but further research is needed before specific targeted actions for Blackbird can be proposed.