Operation Turtle Dove renews appeal for help to save species in light of evidence of turtle doves’ continuing decline Operation Turtle Dove, a conservation partnership that aims to halt and reverse the decline of one of our most threatened birds, has renewed calls for farmers, landowners and nature-lovers in Eastern England to join the fight […]
Continue readingTurtle Dove Talk
Meet Francoise – the first Turtle Dove fitted with a GPS tag in its wintering grounds of Africa
This blog from the RSPB’s Technical Development officer, Nigel Butcher, was originally posted on the RSPB Community page. It was with some anxiety and emotion that I left my family early on the morning of the 14th November 2015. My bags were light in clothing but heavy with field kit from radio antennas to the […]
Continue readingUpdate on Titan
Titan, our satellite tagged turtle dove, set off on his migration to the wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa on the 19th September, exactly the same time that he began his southbound journey last year! Not hanging around in France, Titan reached northern Spain around the 22nd September and spent a couple of weeks refuelling before […]
Continue readingFollowing Titan our satellite-tagged turtle dove in Suffolk
Guest blog by Dr John Mallord, Senior Conservation Scientist at the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science. As you may have guessed, now that you have put away your T-shirts and shorts, autumn is well and truly here. You have probably already seen swallows lined up on telegraph wires, readying themselves to head south. And our other migrant […]
Continue readingMigration mystery of UK’s fastest declining migrant bird solved!
In a UK science first the RSPB reveal UK breeding turtle dove migration route. The migration route of a UK breeding turtle dove has, for the first time, been revealed by the RSPB today – providing valuable data in the conservation fight to help save the species from UK extinction. Last August, the RSPB fitted a […]
Continue readingThe Passenger Pigeon – a lesson we must learn
Exactly 100 years ago today, the North American Passenger Pigeon went extinct. We know the precise time and location of this event – 13:00 in Cincinnati Zoo, USA – and we know the name of that last representative of a species – Martha. What is exceptional is that just 50 years earlier, the Passenger Pigeon […]
Continue readingWhat do we know about the effect of disease on turtle doves?
Stephanie Morren from the RSPB writes… What do we know about the effect of disease on turtle doves? Well the answer is, not a lot at the moment. We know a little about other potential problems facing turtle doves on their breeding grounds in Europe, their wintering grounds in Africa and their migration routes. But […]
Continue reading