'Save partridge' is call to farmers (From Gazette & Herald)

'Save partridge' is call to farmers

FARMERS and landowners in North Yorkshire are being urged by a conservation society to help save a threatened bird which is coming back from the brink of extinction.

Wild grey partridges have suffered a massive population decline of 86 per cent during the past 25 years.

When the bird faced extinction in 1995, the Government gave the species priority under the UK's Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) and chose the Game Conservancy Trust to manage it.

In North Yorkshire, which is prime partridge territory, the trust is urging more farmers or landowners to join the Partridge Count Scheme, which helps to track numbers and breeding success of partridges.

Through the count scheme, the trust is able to identify when the county's Biodiversity Action Plan target of 11,120 partridge pairs by 2005 has been reached.

The trust is spearheading a campaign to help this threatened ground-nesting gamebird by encouraging land managers to create suitable conditions for grey partridge, including providing the right habitat for nest sites and cover, summer and winter feeding areas, and the control of predators.

For a free grey partridge conservation guide, advice on restoring grey partridges or to join the trust's Grey Partridge Count Scheme, contact The Game Conservancy Trust, Fordingbridge, Hampshire SP6 1EF. Telephone (01425) 652381. Information can also be downloaded from the trust's website at www.gct.org.uk.

Updated: 13:03 Wednesday, January 12, 2005