BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Red-legged Partridge

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE Alectoris rufa

Conservation Listings

Unlisted/Green
Biodiversity Steering Group: Unlisted

Long term trend

UK: 20-year decline

Status Summary

Red-legged Partridge is an introduced species whose abundance is probably very closely related to the numbers released for shooting. No BTO Alert is issued, therefore, for the decline in the CBC index from 1978 to the present. In fact, there has been no significant change from the beginning of the CBC, so the peak in the mid-1970s might best be viewed as transient rather than as a baseline for abundance.

Table of population changes for Red-legged Partridge

Source Period
(yrs) Years Plots
(n) Change
(%) Lower
limit Upper
limit Alert Comment

CBC all habitats 31 1968-1999 34 -34 -57 6

25 1974-1999 36 -35 -58 -4 >25

10 1989-1999 33 -26 -42 -5 >25

5 1994-1999 32 -7 -24 11

CBC farmland 31 1968-1999 27 -33 -60 4

25 1974-1999 28 -33 -56 0

10 1989-1999 29 -25 -45 -6 >25

5 1994-1999 29 -9 -29 11

BBS UK 6 1994-2000 371 27 13 42

BBS England 6 1994-2000 366 20 7 34

The Breeding Bird Survey is jointly funded by BTO, JNCC and RSPB

Productivity information is not currently available for this species

Wider Countryside Home | BTO Home | JNCC Home

This report should be cited as:
Baillie, S.R., Crick, H.Q.P., Balmer, D.E., Beaven, L.P., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Leech, D.I., Marchant, J.H.,
Noble, D.G., Raven, M.J., Simpkin, A.P., Thewlis, R.M. and Wernham, C.V. (2002) Breeding Birds in the Wider
Countryside: their conservation status 2001. BTO Research Report No. 278. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

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