HABITATS OF THE SONG THRUSH TURDUS-PHILOMELOS IN A LARGELY ARABLE LANDSCAPE

During three breeding seasons, 1994-96, the habitats of song thrushes were studied in north-east Essex, U.K., in 10 tetrads (total 40 km(2)) of mainly farmland habitat and 35 woods of differing sizes (range 0.1 -57.0 ha). Within tetrads, only 6 (3.5%) territories were found in far mland. Gardens held 123 (71.5%) territories, though this habitat made up only 2% of the total area, while 39 (22.7%) were in woodlands (1% o f total area). Population densities were much lower in the tetrads tha n in earlier studies; this may be an indication of the severe populati on decline that the species has recently undergone. Densities in garde ns differed less from those of previous studies. In the woodland study , the number of woods holding song thrush territories declined over th e three years, while the proportion of total territories in the six la rgest woods increased. Densities in the woods were lower than those re ported in earlier studies but the disparity was not as great as in far mland. Extinctions in the smaller woods was 20-30% per annum, a rate s imilar to that for gardens: population extinctions did not occur in th e larger woods. Some 40% of non-garden territories in the surveys of b oth tetrads and woodland plots were within 100 m of a garden. Gardens may be currently acting as a refuge for song thrushes and an understan ding of the ecology of the species in different types of gardens may b e important in current conservation efforts for the species.