We have a few but sadly not as many as we had on the 60's and 70's.
You can't beat that 'cheeerping' call they make...
Joe Nickerson was a big fan (and a bigger 'slayer') of Perdix perdix, so much so that he named one of his wheat varieties after them - Rothwell Perdix. Ironically it became 'extinct' due to a massive breakdown to yellow rust in the 1960's.
They love a 'mucky' overwintered stubble. An elderly neighbour farmed sheep and spring barley in the days before Roundup, grazing his 'twitchy' stubbles before ploughing and drilling in the spring.It was ironic that he also helped breed the winter wheats that now dominate the landscape which provide little habitat for his beloved greys.
When I was young I can remember the call of the Grey partridge on a spring /summer evening. Now all I can hear are French Partridge calling,do any of you still have the English Grey Partridge on your farm /estate.
Released greys have a low survival rate due to lack of skills. One French producer countered that by trapping up some of the wild cocks that come around the laying pens looking for a mate. When he released coveys of about 20 young birds, he made sure they included one of the wild cocks which then taught the artificially reared birds how to survive in the wild. A good example of social learning.
I released ex-layer greys around here. During a dry year, they did remarkably well with one covey of 30 chicks! But then they dwindled away and there are none now.
There are (or used to be) pockets of 'hill partridges' in the Highlands. These usually occurred where cattle were outwintered and fed on unthreshed oat straw and where turnips were grown for sheep. From my home in Glenlivet, I could look out of the window and see the stacks of oats black with Black Game and Red Grouse, also grey partridges. These all disappeared when a new shed was put up and the cattle were brought in over winter and the oats were cut with a combine.
If you want butterflies, you need a few weeds!
Plenty here and not a single cover crop grown,they do seem to like the osr now that it’s grown using the subsoiler leaving plenty of stubble for early winter and the hybrids grow quickly in the spring giving them plenty of cover when they need it in the early spring.Predator control is vital if you want a thriving population and some rough old pp that is cut late for hay also helps.They returned to our farm when we stated to have a significant area of over winter cover crops, pretty healthy population now
Winter habitat helps a lot but they need 3 habitats:
I don't like released greys - they can introduce disease & the chick feeding is not innate. That's why they are rare! You need wild birds who know how to teach the chicks to feed & where to look. Even fostering them with bantams helps as they will peck around for bugs & seeds.
- Winter cover - January - March is the time for the highest predation losses as the safe coveys break up & pair off for mating. Even full time grey partridge shoots like Arundel, Holkham, Sandringham & Northumberland (Percy) Estates lose 50% during this period. Plant perennial species that hold a canopy in late winter
- Nesting habitat - tussocky grasses e.g. beetle banks & hedge bottoms on slopes (a room with a view)
- Chick food - each chick needs 200 aphids or other small bugs/day for the first 10 days of its life. Conservation headlands are very good - these are usually weedy thin crops providing overhead protection yet easy movement and bugs on weeds in the base. Better broad leafed herbicides have been one of the main reasons for poor chick survival. A winter wheat or osr crop is like a desert for them. https://www.gwct.org.uk/farming/advice/habitat-issues/conservation-headlands-field-margins/
3 main requirements for a healthy grey population:
Further information here https://www.gwct.org.uk/research/species/birds/grey-partridge/
- Habitat (see above)
- Supplementary feeding
- Predator control. No sniggering here about gamekeeper behaviour, especially in today's society of trail cameras & mobile phones - just rat, stoat, weasel & fox control makes a big difference. Sort the cover habitat and you make the raptors' hunting more difficult.