As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Saturday 26 April 2014

Habitat solution to ring ouzels' dramatic decline

The population of Scotland’s ring ouzels – popularly known as mountain blackbirds – has dropped by 36 per cent since 1999 and these striking but rare upland birds are vanishing from many of their former haunts in the rocky hillsides and gullies of the highest parts of the country.

Scotland is home to two-thirds of the UK population of ring ouzels, which are distinguished by their black plumage and striking white breast band. The population has probably been dropping for more than a century, and the most recent nationwide survey shows this decline has continued at an alarming rate.

The survey found an estimated 3,520 breeding pairs in Scotland in 2012, compared to 5,503 in 1999, when the first national survey of ring ouzels was carried out.

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