Reversing the Decline in Grey Partridge

Last week I was lucky enough to visit Castle Howard in the beautiful Howardian Hills AONB, north of York. Around 15 of us were shown  around the estate as part of the National Association of AONB's Annual Conference, 'Shaping Nature on a Landscape Scale'. Of particular interest for me was meeting the 2 gamekeepers Wyne Bennett and Clive Harrison.

They explained how the estate used to operate a highly commercial shoot putting down approximately 20,000 pheasant and partridge a year and selling 20-30 days. The estate owner had a change of policy a number of years ago, winding down the commercial shoot and converting to a wild shoot with just 4-5 days shooting for family and friends. In line with most farms and estates across the country, the number of wild grey partridge had been declining over the years, with the estate down to 3 pairs.
The spring count this year showed an increase to 50 pairs, a conservative number according to Wyne. This dedication led to the estate being awarded the first Yorkshire Grey Partridge Award in late 2008.

This increase has been the result of lots of hard work by the gamekeepers to provide year round habitat for grey partridge; nesting areas, plenty of brood rearing cover and year round food. A large area of  farmland has been removed from the contracted arable land and dedicated to the shoot to recreate the farming mosaic of the 50's when the birds were numerous.Gone is block cropping and in its place a mosaic of triticale, beans, kale/kale rape and linseed. These blocks provide excellent cover for the birds and are also used to drive the birds through, providing much 'more interesting birds' to shoot than maize. Strips of canary grass have been established for pheasants to nest in.

Crop inputs are limited to fertiliser, fungicide and selective herbicides. Insecticides are avoided so as not to damage food sources for chicks. Outside of these 'shoot blocks', on the commercial farmland managed by Velcourt, the outside 3m of cereal crops are also treated as consveration headlands - not recieving any inputs. These are adjacent to a considerable network of  2-6m grass margins which provide excellent nesting cover. Partridges can then lead their chicks straight into the sparse,weedy cereal edge to find the 200 insects a day they need in the first few days of life, whilst the cereal crop hides them from hungry sparrowhawks.

Winter food- this consists of 2nd year kale (where it is thick enough to leave into year 2), unharvested conservation headlands and all year round hopper feeding. This is essential to allow birds to get into breeding condition in the hardest time of the year, the so-called hungry gap (February-May.)

There is also year-round control of predators; foxes, stoats, weasels, corvids and rats, which have reduced in number since maize stopped being grown for shoot cover. Despite numerous buzzards, badgers and sparrowhawks across the estate, grey partridge numbers have increased year on year due to the care and attention taken by the keepers to provide year-round habitat. Brown hare and other farmland birds species have benefitted too including lapwing, linnet, yellowhammer and skylark.

Whilst many farms won't be able to remove large areas of commerical arable land and farm in the style of the 1950s, there are lessons that can be drawn from the approach of the Castle Howard Estate to grey partridge conservation.

1. Ensure year round habitat exists across the farm.
Good nesting cover in the form of field edge tusscocky 2m+ grass margins or in field beetle banks; brood rearing cover adjacent to nesting cover in the form of strips of weedy sparse cereals (broadleaved weeds not grass weeds). Year round feed for adults in the form of grain either through hoppers and/or dedicated crops for birds to eat particulary kale, tricitcale and quinoa. The year round needs for grey partridge can be funded through ELS and HLS.

2.Provide year round cover
Many shoots destroy all their cover once the shooting season finishes at the end of February leaving birds very vulnerable to repdation especailly by sparrowhawks. If you want wild gamebirds to flourish you need to provide them with somewhere to hide! Kale is ideal as its a biennial (2 year life cycle) so as long as you get good first year establishment (see my earlier post on top tips for growing it) its perfect for that period on the farm when other cover is dectroyed and being re-established.

3.Keep on top of predators...
....particulary rats, especially if you hopper feed.



View from the Mausoleum, Castle Howard Estate



Castle Howard Estate with ground nesting birds sign on fingerpost