BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Grey Partridge

GREY PARTRIDGE
Perdix perdix

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 3 (vulnerable)
UK: red (>50% population decline)
UK Biodiversity Action Plan: click here

Long-term trend

UK, England: rapid decline

UK population size

70,000–75,000 pairs in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)

Status summary

This species has declined enormously, probably because of the effects of agricultural intensification (specifically herbicides) on the food plants of young chicks' insect prey (Potts 1986). Despite years of research and the application of a government Biodiversity Action Plan (Aebischer & Ewald 2004), the continuing decline shown by CBC/BBS suggests that all efforts to boost the population have so far been unsuccessful. Local extinctions are now likely to be widespread, but masked in some areas by continuing releases of hand-reared birds onto shooting estates. The practice of releasing Red-legged Partridges in large numbers can lead to Grey Partridge extinction, in part because shooters are unable to distinguish these two species (Watson et al. 2007). These authors conclude that overshooting has greater implications for Grey Partridge conservation than raptor predation.

Population changes

Table of population changes for Grey Partridge

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit	Alert
CBC/BBS UK	38	1967-2005	115	-87	-92	-82	>50
	25	1980-2005	133	-82	-88	-78	>50
	10	1995-2005	241	-39	-46	-30	>25
	5	2000-2005	210	-12	-27	1
CBC/BBS England	38	1967-2005	103	-87	-91	-82	>50
	25	1980-2005	119	-82	-87	-78	>50
	10	1995-2005	214	-33	-40	-25	>25
	5	2000-2005	189	-3	-15	7
BBS UK	10	1995-2005	221	-39	-47	-30	>25
	5	2000-2005	206	-14	-28	-1
BBS England	10	1995-2005	195	-35	-42	-26	>25
	5	2000-2005	185	-5	-17	6

Productivity trends

Productivity information is not currently available for this species

Additional information


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This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Barimore, C., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. & Thewlis, R.M. (2007) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2007. BTO Research Report No. 487. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 3 January, 2008