Peter Thompson is our

Transcription

1 Grey partridge Issue 20: Spring 2014 Introduction I ended my introduction to the last newsletter, which covered the appallingly wet summer of 2012, with: Finally, let us all collectively hope for a normal summer this year, without massive extremes of weather. It appears that I was pushing my luck once again. The spring and early summer of 2013 was unbelievably cold so coveys stayed together much longer than usual and many relied on feed hoppers because much of the natural food had gone. New sources of food in the form of fresh plant growth and early seeding meadow grass and chickweed, along with emerging insects, just did not appear. Many bird species put breeding on hold, so that nesting was delayed between a month to six weeks later than usual. But from talking to keepers around the country, most felt that grey partridges started laying about the same time as usual. Peak hatch time is around the middle of June (a little later the further north you are) and as broods hatched, they had to contend with cold, wet conditions, with hard frosts at night. But most damaging was the almost complete lack of insects present, which resulted in the vast majority of these chicks perishing due to starvation. The weather suddenly turned to a wonderfully warm summer right at the end of June. There was hawthorn (called May as that is the month it usually blossoms in) in full flower at the end of June, while spring butterflies such as orange tip flew with summer species like the meadow brown. Most importantly for the later hatching broods of grey partridges, insect abundance exploded. It is such a shame that most greys couldn t delay nesting like many other bird species, because if they had done so, the chicks that hatched in the last few days of June and into July enjoyed warm sunny weather, mild nights and abundant insect life. Luckily this change in conditions, turned what was rapidly looking like another disastrous breeding season into a season that could be described as a bit below average obviously with regional variations. Looking ahead to 2014 I m not going to say a word. Peter Thompson Inside this issue: News Page 1... Introduction Page Partridge course; Ireland bucking the trend; Demonstrating recovery in Scotland Page The Partridge Count Scheme; Big Farmland Bird Count Page 6... Controlling rats Page The word on the ground; Group news; Contacts. Correction In a previous newsletter (issue 16) we gave the incorrect dimensions (7.5x7.5cm or 3 inch) for mesh to use around a feed hopper to allow access for grey partridges. If you use 10x10cm (4 inch) diameter wire netting it is sufficiently large to allow your partridges access to the hopper, but can also deter pigeons and rooks. Peter Thompson is our biodiversity advisor and an expert on farmland habitat and wildlife. He was a finalist in the 2013 Farmers Weekly advisor awards. Special thanks to all those individuals, gamekeepers, landowners and estates, who have contributed to the Partridge Count Scheme. Get your friends and families to join at Kindly sponsored by 1

2 Family groups should be released near holding and escape cover, such as a rape field next to a hedge. Parent-reared grey partridges should be favoured for fostering chicks. Courses Ensuring your re-introduction is a success Successfully re-establishing populations of grey partridges to areas where they have gone extinct or are present in only very low numbers can be a very tricky business and often ends in failure. Effective and appropriate rearing and releasing methods, comprehensive habitat management and a targeted predation control programme are all high priorities when considering re-introducing greys. These were the key messages at two popular one-day courses run by our scientists and advisors in Further events will be held in 2014 in Scotland, northern England and the Midlands. Based on sound science and practical experience, we run these courses in conjunction with Perdix Wildlife Supplies, who have technical expertise in rearing grey partridges specifically for re-introduction projects. The day consists of a combination of indoor talks and outdoor practical sessions covering all aspects of grey partridge biology, habitat requirements, predation control, gamebird health, different types of rearing and releasing methods and advice on when each type is appropriate. Feedback from these courses has been very positive and if you are considering releasing grey partridges for conservation purposes, we strongly recommend booking a place. Contact Lynda Ferguson on to book a place or go to org.uk/courses for more information Courses Monday 3 March am-3pm Whitburgh Estate, Pathhead, Midlothian. Tuesday 4 March - Clune and Corrybrough Estate, Tomatin, Inverness-shire. October (date tbc) Scotch Corner Go to for more information and to book. Dublin Ireland bucking the trend The North Dublin grey partridge project covers three farms, totalling about 1,000 acres. It is organised by the Irish Grey Partridge Conservation Trust, working alongside local biodiversity officers who are also funding the project. Because grey partridges have been completely lost from most of Ireland, lots of habitat restoration has had to be put in place prior to releasing grey partridges back into the area. Plenty of good nesting cover in the form of tussocky grass margins The Irish grey partridge group. has been created, and cereal and kale strips have been planted alongside them. These strips are left for two years to provide food and cover throughout the year. Supplementary hopper feeding and areas of wild bird seed mixes are also used, while a targeted spring and summer predator control programme has been put in place to limit numbers of foxes, crows, magpies and ground predators such as rats. The project has already had some success with breeding taking place and broods successfully reared. When we visited we were treated to a lovely covey of 12 birds bursting out of cover, flying away over a tall hedge, the sunlight picking out their heart-shaped brown chests as they turned. Another project in Boora, County Offaly, is also a huge success with grey partridges doing very well. What is equally important is that the local breeding population of lapwing (which has all but disappeared from Ireland too) is thriving on the back of the project was exceptional with 81 lapwing nests producing 178 fledged chicks, on just 694 acres. Not bad for a bird which had previously been almost lost as a breeding species in the country. Well done to Kieran Buckley and his team from the Irish Grey Partridge Conservation Trust, and also the Irish Government for the vital funding they are giving to these projects. Not only are they saving the grey partridge, but lapwing and skylark numbers are going through the roof too. 2 Peter Thompson is our biodiversity advisor and an expert on farmland habitat and wildlife. He has been advising the Irish team on the best habitats for grey partridges.

3 Post-breeding density in 2013 was 11 birds per 100 hectares compared with eight in 2012 at our Scottish Grey Partridge Demonstration Project. Demonstration project Demonstrating recovery in Scotland Our Scottish Grey Partridge Demonstration Project is now in its third year and we have been working closely with the team at Whitburgh Farms in Midlothian. Previous management on the site has focused primarily on encouraging grey partridges, so this provides us with a great opportunity to demonstrate to practitioners and...a great opportunity to demonstrate the requirements of grey partridges and some of the challenges that managers face. policy makers the requirements of grey partridges and some of the challenges that managers face began well with a reasonably successful lamping period in March where we radio-tagged 13 hens. However, we experienced a very poor spell of weather around the key nesting and chick-rearing period resulting in very few broods. This seemed to be exacerbated by a very high predation rate on the adults. All of the 11 tagged hens that remained on site were found dead with signs of being eaten by raptors. Whether this high predation rate is typical or was only connected with the bad weather remains to be seen, but the Whitburgh habitat; L-R: Graham Rankin (keeper), Alastair Salvesen (owner), Paul Wheelhouse MSP (Minister for Environment and Climate Change) and Dave Parish (GWCT senior scientist). upshot was that the density of spring pairs on the main study areas declined by 92% to just one pair in Interestingly it seems that songbirds were also affected by the bad weather and showed declines. This meant that we were unable to radio-tag any grey partridges last year. Fortunately there are several pairs elsewhere on site. Post-breeding density in 2013 was 11 birds per 100 hectares compared with eight in 2012, so we are hopeful of a modest increase in numbers of spring pairs in We are now focusing our monitoring activities on songbirds and raptors. We are looking at how the songbirds use the various habitats provided, which will include a large-scale assessment of how breeding success might be affected next year, and we are trying to accurately census raptors on the site and locate nests across the landscape. As part of our policy work we have hosted some visitors from Holyrood, namely Paul Wheelhouse, the Scottish Government s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Hugh Dignon, Head of Natural Resources at the Scottish Government and Tom Edwards, Senior Rural Affairs Researcher for the Scottish Parliament. These occasions gave us the chance to raise a wide range of issues from weed problems in headlands and raptor predation to rural employment. In the summer we held a farm walk in glorious sunshine, enjoyed by more than 30 local farmers. We also showed Anthony McCluskey of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust the work we are doing and we are hoping to collaborate on some future projects. In focus at Whitburgh Dave Parish and Hugo Straker discussing one of the triticale-mix headlands. These crops, either triticale or brassica mix, are on nearly every field headland. This project will look at: Grey partridge population dynamics and habitat use. Raptor population dynamics and habitat use. The effect of grey partridge management on songbirds. Brown hare abundance. Invertebrate abundance. Dave Parish is our senior scientist focusing on lowland research in Scotland. An expert in songbird research he is working to help grey partridge recovery in Scotland. 3

4 increase in the autumn density of grey partridges 26% from 2012 to species of birds were recorded in the Big Farmland Bird Count pilot scheme. This annual count aims to highlight the 69 work of farmers and gamekeepers. Counts Partridge Count Scheme The results of the 2013 autumn partridge counts from participants of the Partridge Count Scheme (PCS) are summarised in Table 1. We are again extremely grateful to everyone who took part and submitted their findings. Following the disastrous 2012 breeding season we were hoping for a good summer so that grey partridge numbers could start to recover. The persistent cold temperatures during April and Last summer s broods suffered from a lack of chick food insects due to the cold spring, highlighting the importance of insect-rich, brood-rearing habitats. Sawflies are an important chick food insect. May effectively stalled chick-food insect emergence across many areas, reducing essential food for newly-hatched chicks in June. Luckily July s mini-heat wave did result in higher numbers of chick-food insects. Several comments from PCS members sent in with their autumn counts suggested that second or late clutches, produced broods which were able to exploit the late insect emergence in July and August. The PCS received 639 autumn counts in 2013, 7% fewer than autumn 2012 (see Table 1), covering an area of 188,200 hectares (ha) (465,000 acres). Despite a 9% reduction in the area counted in the autumn of 2012 (206,000 ha), the total number of partridges recorded increased by 2,800 (+11%) to 27,700 birds. As a result the autumn bird densities reached an average 16.9 birds per 100 ha (up from Scotland saw the greatest rise in productivity, recording a 2.5-fold improvement from its Young-to-Old in birds per 100 ha in autumn 2012), an increase of 26% nationally. The greatest density increases were recorded in Scotland and northern England, but all regions recorded increases. This is reassuring and is a positive start to recovering breeding bird numbers to the highs that the PCS recorded in spring 2012, before the abysmal summer of Overall productivity, measured as young-to-old ratio (Y:O), averaged 2.5 young birds per adult. This is double the 2012 value and above the 10-year average of 2.3 Y:O. All regions except the south exceeded 1.6 Y:O, the level required to maintain a stable population. Scotland saw the greatest rise in productivity, recording a 2.5-fold improvement from its Y:O in 2012 (when no region achieved 1.6 Y:O). Scotland also recorded the highest average Table 1 Results from the Partridge Count Scheme for autumn 2012 and 2013 Region Number of sites* Young-to-old ratio** Autumn density*** Percentage increase (birds per 100ha) between years South % Eastern % Midlands % Wales Northern % Scotland % Overall % * The number that returned any information, even zero counts. ** Calculated from estates where at least one adult grey partridge was recorded. *** From those estates that reported the area they had counted. 4

5 Send in your counts With your help we can continue to monitor the grey partridge situation and provide appropriate advice. brood size of nearly eight young per brood. Brood sizes decreased the further south you went in the UK, with the southern region averaging five young per brood. Scotland s improved productivity may have benefited from above-average maximum daily temperatures during June, giving a boost to insects and broods. The summer of 2013 was certainly an improvement on Although productivity was again affected by adverse weather, there was less of an effect on brood mortality, with late or second clutches surviving well. Thankfully, many PCS participants had brood-rearing habitats in place to produce chick-food insects when weather conditions improved. We hope that everyone (not just those involved in the PCS) appreciates how critical protein-rich chick-food insects are at the time of hatching. Grey partridge chicks need insects for a very limited period, a tiny part of the partridge life-cycle; however, it is a crucial period that requires brood-rearing habitats, thinner weedier headlands etc. to be established to produce sufficient insects (even if the benefits are late). Find out more by reading our Partridge factsheet 3 Brood-rearing habitats and Chick-food Brood-rearing habitat that encourages chick food insects are vital for chicks to survive. Favourites which can be downloaded from This spring we look forward to finding out how the birds have fared following a winter of wind and rain and whether there are enough birds around to breed successfully. Please send in your counts so that we can get the full picture. Hopefully we will see another step forward. For targeted advice on how to improve your insect-rich brood-rearing habitat please contact Peter Thompson on Neville Kingdon is our Partridge Count Scheme Co-ordinator who collates all the count data to provide an overall outlook on how grey partridges are faring. Help expand the PCS The PCS is looking for more farms, shoots and estates to get involved and count their partridges. If you know of someone with farmland, be it neighbours, friends or family, please encourage them to help the grey partridge by joining the PCS. Monitoring the ups and downs of populations and knowing where to make necessary improvements will help boost our wild grey partridges. Every one counts. Go to or contact Neville Kingdon at nkingdon@gwct.org.uk or call Counting Farmland birds need you to show they count Last year we launched the Big Farmland Bird Count to highlight much of the good work done by farmers and gamekeepers to help reverse farmland bird declines. As much of this work goes unrecorded, we want to remedy that and help farmers and gamekeepers record the effect of any conservation schemes currently being initiated on their land such as supplementary feeding or growing wild bird seed and game cover crops. The count took place at the beginning of February and we were delighted that more than 900 farmers took part. Participants spent about 30 minutes recording the species and number of birds seen on one particular area of the farm. A pilot scheme last year took in more than 10,000 hectares across 30 farms and recorded 69 species, from tree sparrows and yellowhammers to barn owls, kestrels and buzzards. This is an annual count so please make a note in your diary to download count forms for next February and take the opportunity to highlight the important work you are doing on your land for farmland birds. See for more information. Our annual Big Farmland Bird Count aims to highlight the important work by farmers and gamekeepers to help reverse farmland bird declines. 5

6 Setting traps on well-established rat runs has proved to be very successful. Top tip Dispose of dead rats carefully, preferably by burial or incineration, to avoid attracting scavengers. Trapping Helping to control rat populations Rats will kill adult grey partridges on the nest, as well as taking their eggs and chicks, so they should be controlled at every opportunity. Although traditional tunnel traps set to catch rats living around buildings, feed hoppers or along hedgerows are a valuable form of control, the system is most effective if tunnels are well-established prior to rats moving into that environment. Rats are well-known for avoiding anything new. We call this aversive behaviour neophobia, and it can restrict the effectiveness of traps when an infestation occurs. Not only will rats avoid novel trapbaits, but newly established trap sites too. So, what s the best method of trapping rats if they become established in and around seed-rich covers like un-harvested headlands and wild bird seed mixes, grown for the benefit of grey partridges and other farmland birds? Like rats, rural foxes are notoriously neophobic, and very difficult to catch in baited traps. Snares on the other hand are very effective against foxes. Snares are set on trails or runs, and are designed to catch the fox completely unawares. However, a snare will only catch a fox if it remains undetected. Therefore a similar system should work well for rats, but instead of trying to set purpose-made rat snares, I d use body-grip traps set on well-established rat-runs. I found this system to be very effective during exploratory research on tunnel trap designs, and started catching rats from the moment traps were set.. BMI Bodygrip Magnum trap have never really gained favour with gamekeepers, which is surprising because they re very simple to use. What s more, they re versatile, lightweight, and widely available and cost less than 10 per unit, which puts them in a similar league to Fenn-type traps, only with distinct welfare advantages. Three types of Magnum trap are approved for use in the UK: the Magnum 55, Magnum 110 and Magnum 116. Under the Spring Traps Approval (England) Order 2012, and its equivalents elsewhere, all three models are approved for mice and rats. The 110 is also approved for weasels, stoats and grey squirrels. The slightly more powerful 116 model is approved for all of these Using BMI Bodygrip Magnum traps on well established runs proved to be very effective at catching rats. species, plus mink and rabbits. Under the Conditions of use for Magnum traps, the Order states that: the trap must be set in a natural or artificial tunnel which is, in either case, suitable for the purpose. I prefer the 116 version, as it covers all the species that I m likely to target, and the more powerful and longer spring provides better leverage when setting the trap. Magnum traps consist of a pair of rotating jaws, powered by a strong sidehandle spring. The trap is set in an upright position, and triggered by slight movement of flexible downward-hanging wire whiskers. Using Magnum traps on rat-runs, these whiskers are positioned to frame the run. As the rat scuttles along, it brushes through the whiskers and triggers the trap. The powerful trap-jaws typically strike the rat across the head, neck or chest resulting in a rapid and humane kill. To meet the legal requirement, the trap is housed in a lightweight wire-mesh tunnel which serves also to support the trap in an upright position on the rat run. I hammer a pair of 250mm long hook end metal tent pegs into the ground centrally, and approximately 5cm apart, in front of both entrances, to minimise non-target captures. However, because the trap is set on a wellworn rat run in the first place, the system already has inherent selectivity advantages. The hook ends of the tent pegs are positioned over the roof-mesh to secure the tunnel to the ground. The trap chain should be fastened to a separate, secure anchor stake to prevent a captured rat being dragged away. Purpose-made mesh tunnels for Magnum traps are available online, or can be fabricated easily from a sheet of weld-mesh. The beauty of this low-cost trapping system is its portability, and countering of a rat s natural neophobia. Traps can be moved easily and set quickly, wherever rat runs are discovered. Because of their keen olfactory senses, it s important to keep foreign odours from contaminating traps, tunnels and excluder pegs, to minimise the risk of rats detecting, and then avoiding trap-sets. For protection against rat-borne diseases and to reduce human scent-transfer to traps, always wear nonabsorbent gloves when removing dead rats, and when re-setting traps. Inspect traps at least once a day and do not throw dead rats away carelessly. Aside from the possible health hazard, you ll encourage scavengers like foxes, buzzards and ravens, so dispose of dead rats carefully, preferably by burial or incineration. Magnum traps are widely available online or contact The Magnum Trap Company on Mike Short works in our predation research team and plays a key-role in improving predator and pest control methods and strategies. 6

7 Poor growing conditions meant that natural partridge food was in short supply at the start of the summer. Your views The word on the ground Northumberland - George Farr Conditions in the north of England were patchy if a hen partridge could find a pocket of insects then her brood prospered, but more often than not, there were few insects at hatching time and average brood size suffered. The winter dragged on, setting nature s clock back at least two weeks. You could argue that the greys were not in good condition after a wet summer and a bitter late winter, which may have accounted for the number of barren pairs. Natural food in the wild bird covers was in short supply due to the poor growing conditions and even though we hopper feed just about all year round, most hens were not prepared to lay again. Of the 26 spring pairs, we only yielded 63 young. Norfolk - Fraser Tomsett, Gayton Estate Low insect numbers early on resulted in low brood sizes but there were some reasonable late broods. We are not shooting again until numbers return to the same level before summer Insect numbers have been disappointing for a couple of years now so we really need a good summer in Bedfordshire - Simon Maudlin The spring was looking promising with many broods expected and successful vermin control. Unfortunately the cold spell and lack of insects brought our average autumn brood size down to Only two-thirds of our pairs produced a brood, hatching mainly late July and early August. The remaining pairs were left barren. Sussex - Charlie Mellor, Arundel Estate The year started cold with lots of snow, which helped with disease and also meant that the grey partridges stayed in coveys longer. It didn t warm up properly until late June/July which meant that insect numbers peaked later than usual leading to small early broods. The broods hatched in late June thrived, as it then stayed fine with good insect numbers. All in all an average year but enough for us to have two days shooting. Berkshire - David Wiggins, Englefield Estate Unfortunately 2013 was not the recovery year we hoped for following the decline of Early brood survival rates were poor probably due to the lack of insects. Later broods towards the end of July fared better with increased chick survival. One area suffered from a late rat outbreak due to the previous cropping (maize) which virtually wiped out all production. This shows that good habitat has to be backed up with thorough predator control. On a brighter note, hen survival over the nesting period was above average a 20% increase on the previous autumn. Do you run a shoot? Would you like to compare your performance against similar shoots? If so please go to co.uk/publications to download the Shoot Benchmarking Survey. News from around the regions North Defence from poor weather Two of the northern trophies were awarded to previous winners (Durham & Northern Dales to the Cliffe Estate and Northumberland to Pallinsburn) highlighting that some defence can be provided against difficult weather through long-term investment in good-quality habitat provision (and other management). The Yorkshire trophy was awarded to Fridlington Farms (L-R) Stuart Stark receives the Yorkshire Grey Partridge Trophy from Paul Ainscough, Savills. a relative newcomer to the PCS, but Stuart Stark is already demonstrating the benefits of the investment he has made in providing good habitat supported by supplementary feeding and predator control. The Cumbria & North Lancashire group trophy was awarded to John Harrison of Round Hill near Silloth, for his desire to increase the support he provides for grey partridges. Round Hill is a mixed dairy, beef and arable unit with a Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme providing wild bird seed mixes, over-winter stubbles, lowinput cereals and wetting-up options for the breeding waders. Judge, John Bowman of Natural England said: John is proof that intensive farming and conservation can work together. Through his HLS scheme he is providing year-round habitat for grey partridges and other birds, along with raised water levels targeted for breeding waders. Group meetings were well attended so thank you to all those who supported them. After a cold spring, poor crop growth meant that weren t enough insects available for grey partridge chicks. Also a big thank you to our sponsors, Savills in Yorkshire and GSC Grays in the North-East, and also to Kings Game and Conservation Crops who kindly supported the Cumbria and North Lancashire group meeting was a mixed year in the north with the long cold spring causing issues with crop growth and insect availability at the start of the breeding season. However, overall it was better than 2012 and following better-thanexpected over-winter survival, should continue the population recovery from the 2012 lows. 7

8 Group news continued Unharvested cereal headlands with feeders provide extra food and cover for grey partridges. Wessex Team players strike a conservation success The Cranborne Estate was the winner of the Wessex Grey Partridge trophy last year. The estate team has put in place a programme of measures which combine together to support grey partridges (and many other farmland bird species) throughout their life cycle. These include improved hedgerow management, grass margins, beetle banks and insect-rich brood strips to provide food for chicks. There is also abundant winter escape cover, large areas of wild bird seed mixes and a generous winter and spring supplementary feeding programme. All of this has been coupled with targeted predation control to maximise the number of pairs that successfully rear their young. This has resulted in an increase from Cranborne s habitat (L-R) Mike Swan (GWCT advisor) presenting the Wessex trophy to Viscount Cranborne and his estate team. just a few pairs to a total of 34 pairs in Sadly the dire summer of 2012 saw very few chicks surviving, and resulted in a Hedgerow management reduction to 18 pairs in the Insect-rich brood strips spring of Despite this Winter escape cover halving of the pair count, there Wild bird seed mixes were many more partridges Beetle banks to be seen this autumn than Grass margins last year, and we can anticipate continued population growth from here on. East Anglia Law triumphs in East Anglia The 2013 East Anglian Grey Partridge Award was won by Robert Law s Conservation Grade Farm in Royston. The award was presented by Hugo Johnsen from CastleAcre, trophy sponsor, to Robert and shoot manager Jimmie Laing. Hugo commented that: Robert understands the advantage of preserving some of his farmland for wildlife and has been a passionate advocate of native British species, successfully undertaking a number of inspiring conservation programmes on his 1,200 hectare farm he is a very deserving winner of this year s grey partridge trophy. (L-R) Roger Draycott, The Dingemans family (runners up), Jimmie Laing, Hugo Johnsen, Robert Law (winner). Scotland Top of the Borders Marchmont Farms, Berwickshire was awarded the Borders Grey Partridge Trophy in August, kindly sponsored by Wallace of Kelso. They were commended for their outstanding effort boosting many farmland birds as well as grey partridges. Owner, Oliver Burge, said: We are thrilled to receive this prestigious award. Not only has Graham MacLaughlan s keepering efforts and habitat management helped Marchmont s population of wild grey partridges, but also our wide variety of farmland songbirds. We have worked hard with our farmland conservation but this award will encourage us to do more. (L-R) Winners of the Borders trophy Graham MacLaughlan (gamekeeper) and Oliver Burge (owner). For more information on our grey partridge research and further copies of this newsletter, please contact: Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust Fordingbridge,Hampshire, SP6 1EF Tel: pcs@gwct.org.uk Registered charity no No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved. Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Spring 2014 Source code: RPJTNWL-GP