Sylvia borin – TELOR YR ARDD – Breeding summer visitor and passage migrant. Not recorded in January, March and December
Comparison with previous atlas:
| 1984-88 | 2003-07 | |
| Breeding confirmed | 47 | 14 |
| Breeding probable | 133 | 163 |
| Breeding possible | 13 | 16 |
| No of tetrads occupied | 193 (of 478) | 193 (of 490) |
| Percentage of tetrads | 40.4% | 39.4% |
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. Pembrokeshire County Bird Recorder 1981-2007
Records extracted from the Pembrokeshire Bird Reports, which may contain more detail than shown here.
