RTÉ - Living the Wildlife - Irish Grey Partridge Conservation Trust - Part 1
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- čas přidán 10. 01. 2013
- Series 4: Grey Partridge
Some may say that big Irish families are a thing of the past, but nobody has told the Grey Partridge. With up to 25 chicks they have one of the biggest families in the bird world. This didn't keep them from becoming the rarest resident bird in the country. By 2002 there were only 7 pairs left in Ireland. Changing farm practices and over zealous shooting meant the grey partridge was on the verge of extinction. The NPWS and the Irish Grey Partridge Conservation Trust decided to do something about this and the result was one of the most successful conservation projects in Europe. Kieran Buckley is the project manager and he has an eclectic crew helping him with his daily work. Colin goes along to meet the team and we follow their work for a breeding season. Some really amazing things happen where orphaned partridge chicks are fostered by a bantam hen and the Minister for The Environment John Gormley arrives to release some birds back in to the wild. As a result of the conservation project the Boora Parklands are a treasure trove of different birds and animals and Colin gets his camera out to show us.
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Excellent work
Great to see the conservation of our native species of our native Grey Partridge. Congratulations Kieran and Paddy on your project to date. Keep up the good work.
seriously good footage of wildlife that I know and love but the best angles and really awesome images. makes you stop and think. FABULOUS
I don't have the words to describe this great/wonderful feat of conservation. My Dad used describe the baby Partridge chicks running ahead of the mowing machine in Co Meath.
I wonder if this population would benefit in a "DNA" sense from breeding with birds from England/Scotland or Europe ? Which begs the question why they declined in Ireland and not in England/Scotland to the same extent ?
Is this effort still ongoing does anyone know?
O yes it is
No regard for the poor mom. They could have left her one chick.
Hai what they eat food
When they're chicks, they eat a lot of insects. When they grow up they switch to mainly grains, seeds and such
Many people find the issue of "predator control" a bitter pill to swallow, especially with regard to foxes, yet predator control has been key to Ireland's two greatest game bird conservation stories- for both red grouse in Ballybrack Mountain and grey partridge here at Lough Boora. Unfortunately "balance of nature" doesn't really exist in modern Ireland where farming has drastically changed the natural landscape and where apex predators are absent. Predators like foxes no longer have natural predators to control their populations unlike many countries in mainland Europe. Combine this with the fact that foxes, hooded crows and magpies are habitat generalists and can survive from everything from dead livestock (sheep), roadkill, landfill sites, rubbish, berries worms etc. even when natural prey species are scarce - hence they maintain unsustainably high populations throughout most of the Irish and British countryside. This is why predator control of abundant species is so crucial. I'm glad this episode touched on the subject, even if only briefly.