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 readingOperation Turtle Dove
Operation Turtle Dove reaches millions on The One Show!
Did you see last night’s episode of The One Show on BBC 1? At the end of the programme we were treated to stunning footage of turtle doves at Glebe Farm in Norfolk. The farm is part of Operation Turtle Dove and special habitats have been created to provide valuable nesting and foraging areas for […]
Continue readingMeet Myrtle the turtle dove
One of Titan’s successors, Bird 161004, has a new name! He will from now on be known as Myrtle. Myrtle was the most popular name in the naming competition run by RSPB Science. Thank you to Claire Wilson, Anne Tomma, Howard Bayley, Jez Elkin, Hannah Gumbrell, Katy Spedding, Halina Morton, Susanna Allen, Ella Wooley, Julie […]
Continue readingHelp us name our satellite tagged Turtle Dove!
Bird 161004 is waiting to follow in the slip stream of Titan, the first turtle dove to be tracked from his breeding grounds in the UK to his wintering grounds in Africa and back, and needs a name! 161004 is one of 6 newly satellite tagged turtle doves, which were fitted with light weight backpack […]
Continue readingUrgent action needed to save iconic bird on the brink
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 readingBayer research farm involved in RSPB trial to help save turtle dove populations
This blog from Samantha Lee, the RSPB’s Turtle Dove Conservation Advisor in the East, was originally published in Bayer CropSciences’s Farming Matters blog… For those of a certain age, the sound of turtle doves purring away in the summer months was as much a sign of summer as blossoms on trees are of spring. […]
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 readingNew research provides farmers with techniques to help turtle dove recovery
A new research study, conducted on six farms across East Anglia, has recommended a new agri-environment management option that could help in the recovery of UK turtle dove populations. The study, carried out by the RSPB and part-funded by Natural England (through its Species Recovery Programme), found that cultivating grown seed with a mix of […]
Continue readingBirds of Christmas Future
This third blog in our festive series about the turtle dove comes from Conservation Manager at Conservation Grade, Simon Tonkin… “If you believe we will not succeed, we have already failed” Is it because turtle doves cannot raise enough broods to sustain the population in our countryside or the onslaught of hunting? Is it because […]
Continue readingBirds of Christmas Present
Our second Christmas turtle dove blog comes from Tara Proud, RSPB International Species Recovery Officer and manager of the RSPB’s Migrants Programme ‘Birds without Borders’ programme… I am passionately committed to turtle dove conservation and I’m lucky enough to manage Operation Turtle Dove. This year the Operation Turtle Dove project team have lots of great progress to […]
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