Status and distribution Generally scarce and declining due to changing farming methods but still locally common in some areas of the south & east of the Region. Breeds in the northern half of Iberia and parts of central & southern France, the Alps and northern Italy and from Slovenia to Romania and south to northern Greece, Crete, much of Turkey and the Caucasus. In the north breeds from eastern Germany east to the Ukraine, southern Russia and the Urals, reaching north to south-east Norway, central & northern Sweden, Finland except extreme north, the Baltic States and Russia north to the White Sea. Small and scattered populations survive in the Netherlands, southern Germany and eastern Austria. Has also bred in north Algeria.