Population‐specific migratory strategies of Twite Linaria flavirostris in Western Europe

Abstract

Migratory connectivity describes the extent to which different individuals from specific breeding populations use similar non‐breeding sites, with important consequences for the demography and population structure of birds. We used mark‐recapture data from the EUring data bank to describe the non‐breeding range of Twite Linaria flavirostris within Western Europe. We quantified the strength of migratory connectivity across all European breeding populations, and for the British and continental breeding populations separately. Twite from different parts of the British breeding range used different non‐breeding areas from one another, whereas Twite from different parts of the continental breeding range used similar non‐breeding areas. There was essentially no overlap during the non‐breeding season between British and continental Twite.

Age-specific survival in an English Twite population

“…The remnant breeding distribution of Twite in England is heavily fragmented (Dunning et al 2020), occurring in isolated sub-populations (hereafter, populations) in the South Pennines and North-West Derbyshire (Dunning et al 2016), which together represent the core English breeding range. The South Pennine population declined by 72% between 1999-2013 (Wilkinson et al 2018), and may be as few as c. 30 breeding pairs in 2021, despite recent conservation interventions to restore upland meadow pasture (Wilkinson et al 2018; Wilkinson et al in prep.).…”