Dr John Mallord from the RSPB’s Centre for Conservation Science has been tracking turtle doves over the last few years to learn more about their migratory journeys. Here he describes the journeys the birds made on their southbound autumnal migration in 2019. All migrant birds face numerous challenges as they move between their breeding to […]
Continue readingSatellite tagging
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 […]
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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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Lawford the turtle dove returns home
Dr John Mallord, Senior Conservation Scientist for the RSPB, has some great news about Lawford, one of the satellite tagged turtle doves… With all the cold weather we have been experiencing in the last two weeks, you’d be forgiven for believing that we are stuck in an extended winter. Yet the evidence is there that […]
Continue readingA letter from Gordon
Gordon is one of the RSPB’s satellite tagged turtle doves and he has been telling the readers of the children’s nature magazine Eco Kids Planet about the long journey he is preparing for, back to the UK from his winter home in Africa, and the plight faced by him and his fellow turtle doves… As Gordon […]
Continue readingAn update on the tagged Turtle Doves
Guest blog by Dr John Mallord, Senior Conservation Scientist, RSPB Centre for Conservation Science Titan our 2014-16 satellite tagged Turtle dove was a superstar; the first UK-breeding turtle dove that was followed on its entire migratory journey from his breeding grounds in Suffolk to Mali and back again – and back to Mali a second […]
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 readingEast Anglian turtle doves will reveal more migration secrets
Six new satellite tagged birds to build on legacy of Titan – the first UK turtle dove tracked to Africa and back Six turtle doves are being satellite tracked from their breeding grounds in the UK to their wintering grounds in West Africa, to help scientists better understand why numbers are crashing so rapidly. According […]
Continue readingUpdate on Titan
RSPB volunteer Heather allowed the RSPB Science team to catch and tag a turtle dove in her garden in 2014. Heather named the bird Titan, from Greek mythology – a god of strength, based on her observations of the dominant nature of the bird as he fed and chased females in her garden. Titan has […]
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