Thanks to dedicated research, we know that turtle doves are now far from the chilly UK. They have swapped the hedgerows and fields of the UK countryside for sub-Saharan Africa where you’ll find them in dense Acacia thickets where they roost and open grasslands and fields where the birds feed up. To find out more […]
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Dove Step 3.1 – miles and miles for turtle doves
Over the years, Jonny Rankin has undertaken some incredible challenges, raising much needed funds for turtle dove conservation. September 2019 saw him take on his latest adventure… At 18:25 on Friday 6th September 2019, Dove Step team mates Nick Moran and Jonny Rankin cycled into Kilnsea for the Spurn Migration Festival (Migfest), some twelve hours […]
Continue readingHinterland – Garden
In the final instalment of Jonny Rankin’s series on ‘hinterland’ habitats for turtle doves, he celebrates the garden. Having celebrated scrub and quarry, the last of my hinterland habitats is garden. As a loud and proud turtle dove advocate, I occasionally receive invitations to see turtle doves on people’s land, sometimes even in gardens. On this […]
Continue readingHinterland – Quarry
In the second of his series of blogs celebrating the turtle dove, Jonny Rankin recounts an unforgettable discovery. Just days after my first turtle dove of the year on the forest edge, I took the opportunity to walk around a nature reserve adjacent to a working quarry, looping around the northern edge of the reserve […]
Continue readingHinterland – Scrub
In the first of three blogs about turtle dove habitats, Jonny Rankin celebrates scrub and potentially one of his bird watching highlights of the year. My first turtle dove of the year was adjacent to a beautiful cottage – a cottage deep in thick cover in a section of treed scrub on the forest edge […]
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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 […]
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Just 48 hours until the Dove Step team embark on an epic walk to save the Turtle Dove
It is our pleasure to invite Jonny Rankin to give this guest blog today as he is busy making last minute preparations for his next incredible fundraising journey. I type this just 2 days away from our next Dove Step journey; our most daunting yet. We have deliberately made each fundraising effort something suitably […]
Continue readingJust the walking to go! Dove Step 2 – part 3
Here is the final part of Jonny Rankin’s blog about the epic Dove Step 2 endurance challenge to raise funds for Operation Turtle Dove and increase awareness of the Turtle Dove’s plight. Beware, it makes excruciating reading! Having recounted our experience of the kayak and cycling legs, two thirds of our 700-mile triathlon, this next […]
Continue readingDove Step 2 – Part 2
More from Jonny Rankin and the Dove Step team following part of the migration route of Titan, the satellite tagged Turtle Dove… Having regaled readers with our experience of the kayak leg, the first discipline of our 700-mile triathlon, this next post moves onto the cycle leg… The quick turnover between kayak and cycle leg […]
Continue readingDove Step 2 – Part 1
Those who have followed Operation Turtle Dove since it’s inception may have read about our previous, 300 mile, journey for Turtle Doves. In Spring 2014 Robert Yaxley and myself, Jonny Rankin, walked from Lakenheath to Saltholme RSPB reserves, covering much of the English range of Turtle Doves in the process. With the success of this […]
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