the grey partridge recovery project

Context

From 1855 to 1900 cereal production in Ireland showed a significant decrease; oats (Avena sativa) by 48.1 %, barley by 90.4% and wheat by 28.7%. In 1900 the grey partridge is described by Ussher & Warren as having an extensive range though unevenly distributed, being plentiful in Counties Tipperary, Kings County (Offaly), Queens County (Laois), Kildare and Meath, but scarce in the west of Connaught and Donegal where moors and mountains prevailed.

30 years later Seigne reported that the density of partridge had decreased from 4-5 coveys to 1-2 coveys on his 162-ha farm in Kilkenny. The decline was attributed locally to a high level of poaching. The decline was so serious that by the early 1930s wild birds from abroad were released and legislation prohibiting the shooting of grey partridge was introduced. Following these measures Grey partridge had colonised areas in the west of Ireland where 20 years before they were unknown.

However, in most counties the bird was still sparsely distributed. Kennedy et al stated that in 1954 grey partridge were more plentiful in Co. Carlow than any other county. Up to as recently as the 1960s, the status remained unchanged though no indication was given as to the actual size of the population. In 1966, Ruttledge noted that grey partridge were sparsely distributed and sometimes found in small-cultivated fields of desolate areas.

More recently national bird surveys conducted by the Irish Wildbird Conservancy (now Birdwatch Ireland and the British Trust for Ornithology), have shown a dramatic decrease in the distribution of partridge since the late 1960's. The first survey collected data between 1968-1972. Of the 1,010 10km squares surveyed nationwide, partridge were recorded breeding in 255 (25.2%) of these. In a second survey 20 years later (1988-1991) partridge occurred in only 35 (3.5%) squares.

The Project

08 November 2023
In Planning
reintroduction
All Ireland
€50,000.00
10.00 acres

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Wild Gaia has purchased a 20-acre plot of arable land. This plot will be ploughed, tilled and prepared in order to grow spring cereals for both the grey partridge project and as a winter feed crop for wild birds. The mix will include oats, barley, wheat and triticale (cereal crops) along with linseed, mustard, oilseed rape and quinoa (seed providing species). These will be left for up to 5-years (providing food and cover). The lands will then be lightly grazed by native Irish Moiled cattle and repeated, depending on the requirements of the birds on-site.

We plan to undertake this work beginning spring 2024; taking advice from the Irish Grey Partridge Conservation Trust, Birdwatch Ireland, the RSPB and the BTO.

An additional facet of this project will be the arable weeds project. A portion of the lands will be left unseeded in an effort to see if there are any formerly common (now rare) arable weeds and mosses surviving in the seedbank.

Long-term declines in farmland bird populations in Britain (Gibbons et al. 1993, Marchant & Gregory 1994, Fuller et al. 1995, Shrubb et al 1997, Siriwardena et al. 1998) and in continental Europe (Flade & Steiof 1990, Saris et al. 1994) have led to studies designed to identify the mechanisms that may have reduced the suitability of farmland habitats for birds.

Many species, from a broad range of ecological needs, such as Skylark Alauda arvensis, Song Thrush Turdus philomelos, Linnet Carduelis cannabina and Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra, have undergone declines of more than 50% since the mid-1970s (e.g. Marchant & Gregory 1994).

There is an increasing body of evidence linking many of these declines to aspects of agricultural intensification that have occurred over the same period. Significant changes in farming practice include:

A progressive switch from spring-sown to autumn-sown cereals. This has had the combined effects of: (a) removing winter stubbles, which are the preferred feeding sites for several granivorous species, from the countryside (Evans 1997a), (b) increasing crop density and height of cereal fields in spring, so reducing their suitability to field-nesting birds such as Lapwing Vanellus vanellus (Shrubb & Lack 1991) and Skylark (Wilson et al. 1997) and (c) obviating the need for spring tillage and drilling, both of which may have provided a supplementary food source for birds at a critical time of year.
A reduction in mixed farming with rotations and a consequent simplification of farmland at the level of the individual farm and the landscape. Arable land has been increasingly lost from the pastoral west and grassland from the arable east, both resulting in a diminished range of food resources for birds on farmland (Evans 1997b, Fuller 1997).
Widespread usage of herbicides and insecticides has reduced food resources for both insectivorous and seed-eating bird species (Potts 1986, 1991, Rands 1985, 1986, Campbell et al. 1997).
The intensification of grassland management through high inorganic fertiliser inputs, widespread reseeding and associated high stocking rates has resulted in dense grass swards that are less suitable to some ground-nesting birds and poor in diversity and abundance of some species of invertebrates.
On grassland, the switch from hay to silage production and consequent earlier and more frequent mowing has resulted in the destruction of nests, young and adults of grassland-nesting birds (O’Connor & Shrubb 1986, Fuller et al. 1995, Baillie et al. 1997).

In order to help counter these trends, we propose to;

use spring sown cereals and sow these in a 24-50% thinner seeding rate.
To rotate species sown or sow a combination of up to 8-10 different crops.
Leave the hedgerows to grow out and have a long grass strip around the boundary for habitat diversity.
We will not use any fertilisers or pesticides and the soil will be allowed to recover from decades of overuse.