Help on its way for iconic dove
Gold rings, leaping lords and maids-a-milking all make sustainable seasonal presents, but generous suitors should beware the gift of a turtle dove.
Any Romeo wishing to lavish a sweetheart with all the extravagances from the Twelve Days of Christmas, is likely to pose a threat to Britain’s fastest vanishing bird.
By my reckoning, bestowing a pair of turtle doves from the second day of the festive holidays through to Twelfth Night would equate to 22 individual birds and, according to a new report, represents a substantial proportion of the entire British population of this Red Listed species.
Back in the 1970s when I was cutting my teeth birdwatching amid the spinneys and hedgerows surrounding our village, there were an estimated 125,000 nesting pairs breeding across the UK. Figures released this month by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel suggest there may only be 1,200 pairs left. Indeed, only 58 pairs were confirmed as breeding in 2018, with an optimistic figure of possibly 615 pairs.
Extinction looms for these exquisite birds that derive their names from the soft purr – or “tur-tur” sound – of the male’s song, delivered when he arrives from sub-Saharan wintering grounds in spring. It is a fraught journey with migratory flocks running the gauntlet of Mediterranean hunters only to arrive on intensively farmed landscapes, which no longer provide the seed-rich habitats needed to raise young.
Saving such an iconic bird – perhaps the very species that Noah released from the Ark to return with an olive sprig – has become an imperative for conservationists. Fortunately, concerted efforts over the past decade through the Operation Turtle Dove partnership are beginning to reap success.
Besides campaign work witnessing significant reductions in hunting pressure, progress is also being made in developing landscape-scale conservation projects, with farmers, land managers and communities working to provide habitats for the doves with seed plots and feeding stations.
The Rare Breeding Birds Panel and RSPB, with the support of British Trust for Ornithology and Natural England, are planning the Turtle Dove Survey for 2021. We can only hope next spring’s count brings hope for these iconic birds.
Progress is being made developing landscape conservation projects