Garden Warbler 2003-07
Friday, June 29, 2012 at 6:07PM Surely it was this summer visitor that inspired the acronym LBJ (little brown job). It does however possess a pleasant mellow warbling song, though its critics often refer to this as being like a “garbled Blackcap”. It nests low down in shrubs and trees around woodland edge, rides and glades.
The 2003-07 survey found a marked absence in the extreme south compared to the 1984-88 presence. Nonetheless the totals registered for each of the two surveys was identical. The abundance map in the 1988-91 National Atlas indicates near maximum density in Pembrokeshire, which suggests the 1988 county estimate of 2,000 pairs was realistic. Since then the BTO has used a number of survey methods to conclude that although there have been short term fluctuations in the population, there has been a shallow long term decline. The BBS quantifies this as a 25% decrease in Wales between 1994 and 2007, which suggests the Pembrokeshire population had dropped to about 1,500 pairs by 2007.
Graham Rees
Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)
Red = breeding confirmed = 14
Orange = breeding probable = 163
Yellow = breeding possible = 16
Total tetrads in which registered = 193 (39.4%)
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