 However , the European range has declined and fragmented due to the loss of traditional pastoral farming , persecution and perhaps disturbance at breeding and nesting sites , although the numbers in France , Great Britain and Ireland may now have stabilised . The European breeding population is between 12 @,@ 265 – 17 @,@ 370 pairs , but only in Spain is the species still widespread . Since in the rest of the continent breeding areas are fragmented and isolated , the red @-@ billed chough has been categorised as " vulnerable " in Europe . 
