When the Common Becomes Uncommon: The Grey Partridge Appeal

Did you know that the grey partridge is not only the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s logo, but it is also a biodiversity indicator species?
Grey partridges face many of the same challenges as other farmland birds - a lack of insect-food for their chicks, little suitable nesting and winter cover, and increased predation pressure.
The grey partridge was once common in the British countryside, but it has suffered a dramatic 94% decline since the 1980s. Grey partridges have been on the UK’s Red List since its inception in 1996. The bird is now essentially gone from Northern Ireland, the entire western coast of Britain, except in Anglesey, and continues to disappear locally throughout the rest of its former UK range. It is five to midnight for the grey partridge!
Land managers need to renew their efforts for grey partridge conservation and the Trust needs to support them. We need your help for this major effort. It will be a marathon, not a sprint - but we do have one thing on our side. Grey partridges, given safe nesting sites and ample insect food for their chicks, can produce large coveys, recovering numbers quickly.
The Government will only reach its legally binding targets to recover farmland wildlife if the GWCT model for partridge recovery is rolled out across the countryside. The GWCT supports the conservation efforts of the farmers and wildlife managers who look after 70% of the UK’s landmass. That’s why, as a symbol of nature-friendly farming, the partridge is the perfect logo for our charity.
Grey partridge research, undertaken by the GWCT and others, points the way forward but needs constant monitoring and adjustment to changes in the arable environment. These reflect changes in climate, agronomy, and the opportunities provided by agri-environmental schemes - which provide the tools for most grey partridge conservation.
To halt and then recover this important farmland bird, scientists, and advisors from the GWCT, farmers and landowners, policy makers and influencers need to get together and work much harder to save this bird from further certain local and regional declines across the UK.

[@8asw8]

Dick Potts is one of my all time heroes and a reason I got into conservation, not only as a hobby, but as a job.

[@philipheelham3061]

The badger explosion is one of the problems causing this

[@colinjohnston5465]

Oh look, you can see my house from there!
If Eddie Norfolk wasn't already a Duke, they should give him a knighthood!
What an incredible effort and such dedication shown by all on the estate plus GWCT. How better to show respect for the memory and respect of the peerless Dick Potts. Congratulations.
I've been trying to get my small syndicate to move across to reintroducing grey's to our part of the West Sussex Weald. I would be interested on thoughts around badger impact on the grey and other ground nesting birds that benefit from remarkable efforts such as this.

[@nigelcox9467]

An incredible story and very inspiring ❤

[@paulreynolds9003]

Loss of habitat on farm land is just one reason you don’t see as many partridge. I’ve noticed once all the rough areas of grass and hedges have gone you hardly see the partridge.

[@desmondnorton9709]

I came from a village in Derbyshire called Mastin moor I shot some land round it in the sixties up to 1990s one part of the land wasn’t farmed very well a lot of overgrown grass and plenty of hedges one field about 3 acres I can never remember the grass being cut very long overgrown the it was a favourite roosting place for grey partridge .i could go out any day and shoot a brace .you could put several coveys up any day of the week .i had the greatest respect for this bird I think it’s the most sporting bird I always kept the Covid’s down especially magpies .then towards the mid eighties I started to notice a decline in the partridge .do I never shot them I think one reason was that one farm started to rip hedges up and made big fields . I used to love to hear than calling each other up at night ,but now there isn’t a bird on the land hasn’t been for several years I do miss them we must keep this bird I think they should make the season shorter ie don’t start shooting till oct .yours in sport des

[@ivorbexon4030]

I have not seen any wild Grey Partridge in years. Up till mid 70s there was always a few Greys about. I don’t remember seeing any since the early 80s and they were reared and released. I don’t know if the increase in Hawks etc, has an impact on the population.

[@phillmartin6196]

What do they taste like ?

[@scottingram580]

I saw 4 on thanet farmland for the first time in decades