Blackbird

Turdus merula (Linnaeus, 1758) B. BLABI 11870
Family: Passeriformes > Turdidae

Blackbird, Edmund Fellowes

The Blackbird is one of our most common and familiar birds. It is particularly numerous in gardens, but can be found almost everywhere in Britain & Ireland, apart from the highest ground.

This species forages on the ground, and is most often seen turning over leaf litter, probing the soil for food, or visiting flat feeders like bird tables. Adult male birds are black with a contrasting yellow bill and eyering, whilst females are browner and streakier. The Blackbird's fluting, melodic song, often performed from a high perch, is a particular feature of summer evenings.

Breeding numbers have increased in the UK since the mid-1990s, following a decline during the 1970s and 1980s. The UK also hosts many additional birds from northern Europe in the winter.

Exploring the trends for Blackbird

Our Trends Explorer will also give you the latest insight into how the UK's Blackbird population is changing.

trends explorer

Identification

related video

Identifying Nightingale and other night singers

Contrary to popular opinion, Nightingale is not the only bird that sings at night. In fact, due to its recent decline, you are more likely to hear other birds singing after dark. This video illustrates the difference in song between the four most common 'Night Singers' - Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush and of course, Nightingale.

SONGS AND CALLS

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

Flight call

Alarm call

Call

Song

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Status and Trends

Population size and trends and patterns of distribution based on BTO surveys and atlases with data collected by BTO volunteers.

CONSERVATION STATUS

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

POPULATION SIZE

POPULATION CHANGE

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>).

Exploring the trends for Blackbird

Our Trends Explorer will also give you the latest insight into how the UK's Blackbird population is changing.

trends explorer

DISTRIBUTION

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.

Occupied 10-km squares in UK

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Breeding Season Habitats

Relative frequency by habitat

Relative occurrence in different habitat types during the breeding season.

>Bar of similar size indicate the species is equally likely to be recorded in those habitats

DISTRIBUTION CHANGE

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.

Change in occupied 10-km squares in the UK

SEASONALITY

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

Weekly occurence of Blackbird from BirdTrack
Weekly occurrence patterns (shaded cells) and reporting rates (vertical bars) based on BirdTrack data. Reporting rates give the likelihood of encountering the species each week.

Movement

Information about movement and migration based on online bird portals (e.g. BirdTrack), Ringing schemes and tracking studies.

RINGING RECOVERIES

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

Foreign locations of Blackbird ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland
Encountered in: Winter (Nov-Feb); Spring (Mar-Apr); Summer (May-Jul); Autumn (Aug-Oct)

Biology

Lifecycle and body size information about Blackbird, including statistics on nesting, eggs and lifespan based on BTO ringing and nest recording data.

PRODUCTIVITY & NESTING

Exploring the trends for Blackbird

Our Trends Explorer will also give you the latest insight into how the UK's Blackbird population is changing.

trends explorer

SURVIVAL & LONGEVITY

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Exploring the trends for Blackbird

Our Trends Explorer will also give you the latest insight into how the UK's Blackbird population is changing.

trends explorer

BIOMETRICS

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

CODES & CLASSIFICATION

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

Gaelic: Lòn-dubh
Welsh: Mwyalchen
Catalan: merla
Czech: kos cerný
Danish: Solsort
Dutch: Merel
Estonian: musträstas
Finnish: mustarastas
French: Merle noir
German: Amsel
Hungarian: fekete rigó
Icelandic: Svartþröstur
Irish: Lon Dubh
Italian: Merlo
Latvian: melnais mežastrazds
Lithuanian: juodasis strazdas
Norwegian: Svarttrost
Polish: kos
Portuguese: melro
Slovak: drozd cierny
Slovenian: kos
Spanish: Mirlo común
Swedish: koltrast

Research

Interpretation and scientific publications about Blackbird from BTO scientists.

CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS

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.

PUBLICATIONS (2)

Peer-reviewed papers
Blackbird by Sarah Kelman

Combining host and vector data informs emergence and potential impact of an Usutu virus outbreak in UK wild birds

Charting the impact of a Usutu virus outbreak in UK Blackbirds

2022 | Lawson, B., Robinson, R.A., Briscoe, A., Cunningham, A.A., Fooks, A.R., Heaver, J.P., Hernández-Triana, L.M., John, S.K., Johnson, N., Johnston, C., Lean, F.Z.X., Macgregor, S.K., Masters, N., McCracken, F., McElhinney, L.M., Medlock, J.M., Pearce-Kelly, P., Seilern-Moy, K., Spiro, S., Vaux, A.G.C. & Folly, A.J. Scientific Reports

The identification of the Usutu virus in Greater London in the summer of 2020 raises questions about the extent of the incursion and its impacts on wild bird populations.

Peer-reviewed papers
Redwing. Liz Cutting

Nocturnal flight calling behaviour of thrushes in relation to artificial light at night

Nocturnal thrushes affected by artificial light

2021 | Gillings, S. & Scott, C.Ibis

New research from BTO has investigated the effect of artificial light at night on birds, indicating that nocturnal migrants are attracted to more brightly lit areas.

Links to more information from ConservationEvidence.com

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