Raising awareness about the plight of turtle doves can be difficult, it is a bird that most people don’t see anymore. Turtle doves now feature most in difficult conversations; agri-environment farm options; the new Species Action Plan which is launched later this month and of course rare bird notifications. Despite the fact that the numbers […]
Continue readingTurtle Dove Talk
Turtle Doves – where are they now?
Guest blog by Dr John Mallord, Senior Conservation Scientist, RSPB Centre for Conservation Science Seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, four calling birds, three French hens, and a partridge in a pear tree, it seems someone thought birds were the ideal Christmas gift to one’s true love. Not forgetting, of course, two Turtle Doves, symbol of true […]
Continue readingPonds for turtle doves
British farmland birds have experienced a population decline of 56% since 1970, with some species such as Turtle Dove and Tree Sparrow decreasing by over 90%. The intensification of agriculture and associated reductions of food availability and suitable nesting habitat is known to be one of the main drivers of these population crashes. One key […]
Continue readingWorking together for turtle doves – the launch of a Turtle Dove Friendly Zone
Turtle doves are declining at an alarming rate, and we know that one of the best ways we can help them is by ensuring that they have the seed food that they need, as well as nesting habitat and access to water on their breeding grounds. To do this at a large enough scale, we […]
Continue readingAll the evidence points to turtle doves still being in real trouble in the UK
We know that turtle doves are in trouble. That is why Operation Turtle Dove work so hard with others to try and reverse the fortunes of this amazing bird. So when a recent scientific paper published in British Birds in September identified turtle doves as “Critically Endangered” in the UK, owing to their strong population […]
Continue readingPhotographing the RSPB Titchwell Turtle Doves
As the weather gets steadily colder, and the turtle doves that breed in the UK are all heading back south for warmer climes, Les Bunyan tells us about his summer spent photographing these fantastic birds, and his hopes that they return next year. “I’m lucky enough to be a volunteer at Titchwell and can be […]
Continue readingTurtle Dove Supplementary Feeding
Dr Tony Morris, Senior Conservation Scientist, and Laura Wright, Research Assistant with the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, tell us about the research they’ve been doing on supplementary feeding for turtle doves. Why do we need to do anything? Between 1995 and 2004 the number of breeding turtle doves in the UK fell by […]
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Jonny Rankin’s Dove Step date with Angela & RSPB scientists
On the 14th July I spent a day in the field with RSPB scientists tracking a satellite tagged Turtle Dove 161002, also known as Angela. Angela was one of ten Turtle Doves satellite tagged in 2016, but the only one still transmitting by the summer of 2017. Bird 161005, named Lawford, after its favoured village […]
Continue readingFlying Start – new hope for the Turtle dove
Joscelyne Ashpole from RSPB explains why there is new hope for the turtle dove across its migratory flyways. In ancient Greek mythology, the European Turtle-dove Streptopelia turtur was purported to be sacred to Demeter, goddess of the harvest and agriculture. As a species of cultivated areas and woodland, the Turtle-dove would have been a familiar farmland sight […]
Continue readingSussex farmer supporting turtle doves
Laurinda Luffman, RSPB chair of a migrant bird fundraising group, talks about a recent visit with farmer John Ford, to see his work to support turtle doves in Sussex Most of my days are office-based at the RSPB headquarters in Sandy, so it’s always a treat to be able to visit projects and meet the […]
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