Whilst Graham continues to cultivate the habitat on the farm, our Turtle Dove Project aims to collate data that will help towards their conservation.
The Turtle Dove is endangered in the UK and classed by the ICUN as Globally Threatened. To discover the latest see BTO Birdfacts and BirdTrends.
From the data above in the past 50 years, there has been a 98% decline in Turtle Doves. Should this continue the Turtle Dove is likely to be extinct as a breeding species by 2040 in the UK.
Our proposal (currently with the BTO) is that birds will be fitted with a unique darvic ring added in addition to the BTO metal ring. The darvic ring is a coloured plastic ring with letters and numbers engraved on it. It will allow from photographs and sightings for each bird to be uniquely identified in the field.
We hope the project will:
- To continue to look at the migration strategies of Turtle Doves
- To see which pairs are present on the farm, their feeding ranges, and also productivity (number of chicks fledged)
- To look at survival rates of birds that return (one Turtle Dove is about 10 years old)
- To investigate juvenile dispersal and if birds are site faithful
- To work with other landowners, farmers, and organisations to further the conservation and understanding of Turtle Doves.
The farm is private property and Turtle Doves are easily disturbed. However, there are photographic and viewing opportunities for Turtle Doves at the farm. There is a hide available at a feeding station. The cost is £30 for a six-hour session 6 am – midday and to inquire please contact Barry Woodhouse via birds@breweryringing.uk . Monies raised go towards running the scheme.
Graphs and data from Massimino, D., Woodward, I.D., Hammond, M.J., Harris, S.J., Leech, D.I., Noble, D.G., Walker, R.H., Barimore, C., Dadam, D., Eglington, S.M., Marchant, J.H., Sullivan, M.J.P., Baillie, S.R. & Robinson, R.A. (2019) BirdTrends 2019: trends in numbers, breeding success and survival for UK breeding birds. BTO Research Report 722. BTO, Thetford. http://www.bto.org/birdtrends
