Certain species really capture people’s imagination and the turtle dove is no exception. We invited artist Steve Kershaw to share how this very bird has come to inspire him. It seems like only yesterday that warm summers in the south of England resonated to the soft purring of one of our most iconic birds as it’s […]
Continue readingTurtle Dove Talk
Turtle Doves feature in Country Living Magazine
Have you seen February’s edition of Country Living Magazine? Writer, Paul Evans, has written a great article about the plight of the Turtle Dove, accompanied by some lovely pictures. At the end of the article there are some suggestions of ways that you can help the Turtle Dove, such as report sightings to Operation Turtle […]
Continue readingCountry Living Feb 2014 The Dove of Love
Wildlife enthusiast running 1,000 miles in aid of Operation Turtle Dove
Wildlife enthusiast, Tristan Reid is a supporter of Operation Turtle Dove and has pledged to run 1000 miles during 2014 in aid of the Turtle Dove. Here he talks about his reasons for taking on this challenge… The last Passenger Pigeon died in Cincinnati US Zoo on the 1st September 1914 – her name was […]
Continue readingPhoto courtesy of David Morris
From original linocut by Robert Gillmore
Which features of our farmland are most attractive to turtle doves?
Turtle doves are one of the fastest declining birds in Europe. Between 1970 and 2011, we lost 93% in the UK, paralleled by a loss in Europe of 69% since 1980. We know that a reduction in available nesting habitat and a reduction in food availability, both in the summer and in their wintering grounds […]
Continue readingTurtle doves: Hunting for a chance to survive
Danaë Sheehan, RSPB Migrants Programme Manager, writes… The Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius of North America was once regarded as the most abundant bird on the continent, if not the world. Yet despite this, and over a period of just forty years, unsuccessful breeding, coupled with mass human exploitation and disease, saw the population decline so […]
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