BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Turtle Dove

TURTLE DOVE
Streptopelia turtur

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 3 (declining)
UK: red (>50% population decline)

Long-term trend

UK, England: rapid decline

Distribution maps

Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.

Status summary

The CBC/BBS trend is of severe declines in Turtle Dove abundance, beginning in the late 1970s and continuing to the present. Hunting during migration is a possible cause of the decline, to add to those related to agricultural intensification that have been postulated for other farmland seed-eaters (O'Connor & Shrubb 1986, Krebs et al. 1999). Analysis of nest record cards and ringing data for farmland Turtle Doves suggests, although without statistical significance, that productivity per nesting attempt has increased while annual survival has fallen (Siriwardena et al. 2000a, 2000b). Browne & Aebischer (2004) conclude that Turtle Doves today have a shorter breeding season and consequently produce about half the number of clutches and young per pair than formerly. Thus, the recovery of Turtle Doves in Britain would benefit from the provision and sympathetic management of nesting as well as foraging habitats.

Table of population changes for Turtle Dove

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit	Alert	Comment
CBC/BBS UK	35	1967-2002	99	-77	-87	-65	>50
	25	1977-2002	112	-77	-87	-68	>50
	10	1992-2002	181	-48	-58	-36	>25
	5	1997-2002	222	-32	-40	-23	>25
CBC/BBS England	35	1967-2002	99	-77	-86	-65	>50
	25	1977-2002	111	-78	-87	-68	>50
	10	1992-2002	179	-48	-59	-37	>25
	5	1997-2002	219	-33	-39	-22	>25
BBS UK	9	1994-2003	184	-44	-53	-33	(>25)
BBS England	9	1994-2003	181	-44	-54	-33	(>25)

Table of productivity information for Turtle Dove

Variable Period
(yrs) Years Mean
annual
sample Trend Predicted
in first year Predicted
in last year Change Comment

Clutch size 34 1968-2002 12 None Small sample

Brood size 34 1968-2002 17 Curvilinear 1.82 chicks 1.81 chicks -0.01 chicks Small sample

Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 17 None Small sample

Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 13 None Small sample

Laying date 34 1968-2002 13 None Small sample

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species


	BTO Home \| JNCC Home BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK. © British Trust for Ornithology (Registered Charity Number 216652). Terms and Conditions \| Privacy Statement Email:
This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Beaven, L.P., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2005) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2004. BTO Research Report No. 385. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 18 January, 2006