Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies

 

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Reports and Other Materials

Date of this Version

7-2008

Document Type

Article

Citation

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Fordingbridge, United Kingdom, July 2008

Comments

Copyright 2008, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. Used by permission

Abstract

In the UK, numbers of grey partridges have declined by over 75% during the last 20 years, and in many parts of the country the species has become locally extinct. Concerns over the magnitude of the decline led the UK Government to place the species on the short list of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) for which the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust was appointed lead partner in 1996. The Grey Partridge Species Action Plan’s targets are to restore numbers from 65,000 pairs in 2005 to 90,000 pairs nationally by 2010, and to expand its 1990 range. Over the past 40 years, we have identified the reasons behind the decline of the grey partridge and devised a range of effective techniques for reversing its decline (see Royston project in Part 1.1, page 4). The present guidelines provide specific advice to assist the recovery of the grey partridge where numbers have fallen below self-sustainable levels or where it no longer exists.

The guidelines are based on our research between 2004 and 2006, when we investigated the best methods of re-establishing grey partridges through releasing, in areas where they have either almost or entirely disappeared, and where a suitable environment has been restored.

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