Abstract
The gray partridgePerdix perdixwas once a common breeding bird in Britain and a traditional quarry species. Its numbers have declined by over 90% over the last 50 years, and there have been similar declines across Europe. Since 1968 the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has undertaken research on this decline and identified three main reasons for it in Britain: disappearance of nesting habitat, reduction in area of brood-rearing habitat and increased pressure from predators. A nature-sparing mindset is not compatible with the conservation of a once-widespread species of farmed land such as the gray partridge, which requires a nature-sharing viewpoint. A gray partridge recovery program had to be tailored toward farmers and their advisors, requiring scientifically proven, costed, pragmatic and simple solutions. The difficulty is in convincing farmers and land managers to take up the challenge, adopt the conservation package and reverse the decline of this species. An important means of addressing this is providing demonstration sites where farmers can go to see how appropriate and practical management leads to successful restoration of gray partridge numbers. We provide two detailed examples of demonstrations in the United Kingdom, concentrating on gray partridge abundance and demography, but also considering the consequences for wider farmland biodiversity. At both demonstration sites the abundance of gray partridges was restored to abundances approaching those of 50 years ago (an average, over 10 years, of 11.3 spring pairs/km2on one site and 13.2 pairs/km2on the other). Obstacles to a more widespread adoption of the package among United Kingdom farmers are discussed as are signposts on how these are being addressed, both in United Kingdom and in Europe.
Highlights
Numbers of the gray partridge Perdix perdix, a once common breeding bird in Britain and a traditional quarry species, have declined by over 90% over the last 50 years (Woodward et al, 2018).There is a similar picture across Europe, with numbers of gray partridges showing a long–term decline of 93% since 1980 (Pan European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme [PECBMS], 2020)
The gray partridge was named as a priority species in the United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan (UK Steering Group, 1995) and is one of 19 species contributing to the Farmland Bird Indicator, one of the United Kingdom government’s biodiversity indicators intended as a measure of the general quality of the farmed environment (DEFRA, 2011, 2019)
Declines in gray partridge numbers have continued despite the contributing factors in the United Kingdom and elsewhere being well understood—including a loss of nesting habitats due to removal of field boundary hedgerows, a decline in chickfood insects due to agricultural intensification and increased use of pesticides and, following these, increases in predation pressure linked to the land use changes and, at least in part, to a loss of wild gamebird shooting and associated predator management (Potts, 1986, 2012; Aebischer et al, 2000; Kuijper et al, 2009; Aebischer and Ewald, 2012; Bro, 2016; Brewin et al, 2020)
Summary
Numbers of the gray partridge Perdix perdix, a once common breeding bird in Britain and a traditional quarry species, have declined by over 90% over the last 50 years (Woodward et al, 2018).There is a similar picture across Europe, with numbers of gray partridges showing a long–term decline of 93% since 1980 (Pan European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme [PECBMS], 2020). Gray partridge brood sizes nearly doubled where “conservation headlands” (which avoid the use of broad-spectrum pesticides in the outer 6 m of cereal fields in order to increase the insect food of young chicks) were used (Sotherton, 1991).The effect on gray partridge numbers of controlling predators during the breeding season was examined experimentally in the Salisbury Plain Experiment (Tapper et al, 1996). How successful these schemes are in addressing the decline in gray partridge numbers depends on whether land managers make full use of the options available to them to make sure that all the habitat requirements of the partridge are in place over its annual cycle (Ewald et al, 2010). Implementing lethal predator control often hinges on the promise of a shootable surplus to defray its costs (Draycott, 2012; Ewald et al, 2012)
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