Grey Partridge, Perdix perdix - a photo on Flickriver

            'Lazing on a sunny afternoon'. But not 'a partridge in a pear tree!' as can be seen the Grey Partridge is an attractive bird that prefers the ground to pear trees! ... a moorland beauty The Grey Partridge, Perdix perdix captured here sunning itself on a North Yorkshire Moor. 

Found on farmland and grassland, it is under threat from loss of habitat. It was originally a bird of temperate steppe grasslands. It has adapted readily to open arable landscapes and, accordingly, vastly expanded its range as agricultural development spread westwards across Europe over the last eight millennia. After the last Ice Age, the Grey Partridge arrived naturally in Britain. 

Many thanks for visiting my Flickr pages ...Your visits, interest, comments and kindness to 'fave' my photos is very much appreciated, Steve.

Grey Partridge Notes and Information:

Category: Grouse, partridges, pheasant and quail

Statistics
Length: 29-32cm
Wingspan: 46cm
Weight: 390g
Average lifespan: 3 years

Conservation status
Classified in the UK as Red under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2021). Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework.

When to see: January to December

About
The Grey Partridge is common in parts, but is becoming scarce around much of the country. A farmland bird, it feeds on seeds, leaves and small invertebrates. When disturbed, it prefers to run instead of fly, but will fly low to the ground if necessary. It breeds in open scrub and farmland, close to hedges or other vegetation, laying its eggs on the ground in a grass-lined scrape.

How to identify
The grey partridge has an orange face and black horseshoe-shaped patch on its belly. It is grey-brown above with a grey chest and orange-brown stripes down the flanks.

Distribution
Found in England and the lowland parts of Scotland and Wales.

Habitats: Grassland, Heathland and moorland, Farmland, Woodland

Did you know?
Also known as the 'English Partridge', the Grey Partridge lays the largest number of eggs of any bird - in some place, up to 19 eggs can form a clutch!

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust notes...The combination of land enclosure, increased cultivation and intensive predator control in the 18th and especially the 19th century boosted its numbers considerably and it became the most popular sporting quarry of the last century. Bag records show that the largest numbers were shot between 1870 and 1930, during which period around two million grey partridges were killed annually.

The same bag records indicate that, after the Second World War, the numbers of grey partridges dropped by 80% in 40 years. Our research has established three main causes for the decline:

Chick survival rates fell from an average of 45% to under 30% between 1952 and 1962. In the first weeks of life, grey partridge chicks feed almost exclusively on insects to obtain the proteins needed for rapid growth. The introduction of herbicides in the early 1950s eliminated many crop weeds that were insect food plants and, by the 1980s, the number of chick food insects in cereals had fallen by at least 75%. Although the drop in chick survival rates was partially compensated by lower over-winter losses, it reduced autumn stocks sufficiently to upset the economics of game management. Many gamekeepers either lost their jobs or turned towards pheasant rearing, resulting in less predator control and an increase in predation during the nesting season, leading to more hen and nest losses.
In some areas the situation was exacerbated by the removal of grassy nesting cover as fields were enlarged by removing hedgerows and field boundaries.
These findings have been confirmed by separate experiments showing that where predators are controlled, chick food insects restored and nesting cover replanted, Grey Partridge density increases.

A range of factsheets on grey partridge conservation and population recovery are available in for download in PDF format. If you have any grey partridges on your land we would urge you to join our Partridge Count Scheme. We also support a network of regional grey partridge groups that hold demonstrations and field visits organised by our advisory and research staff. In addition to this our training team organises courses providing useful and practical information on grey partridge management and conservation.
   

Taken on: June 1, 2022

Tags:

Bird Watcher

Autumn

Beak

Bird

Birding

Branch

Breast

British

BTO

Camera

Camouflage

Canon

Carrion

Chick

Colour

Covert

Dabbling

Diving

Down

Eggs

English

Eye

Feathered

Female

Fledgling

Flight

Flying

Foraging

Habitat

Head

Incubate

Lens

Male

Mate

Migrate

Moulting

Nape

Nature

Nesting

Perch

Preening

Primary

Roost

Roosting

RSPB

Rump

Secondary

Shy

Singing

Sitting

Sky

Soar

Songbird

Springwatch

Steve-Noon

Summer

Swoop

Tail

Tarsus

Throat

Tree

Wary

Wildlife

Wing

Winter

Woodland

YWT

North Yorkshire Moors

Grey Pertridge

Perdix perdix

Gamebird « less

Sets appears in: • Grey Partridge

Stats: 2,884 views / 43 comments