Burishoole Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 evening all, I have just started a program to reintroduce grey partridge back in to an area in Northamptonshire, very lucky as the land we shoot is ideal habitat. I have spoken with the rest of the guns and we are not shooting them at all until they are at a level that warrants taking a few, we have started with 28 adults and I also have chicks which are currently being reared by Bantam, I have a contact in the local area who is mad keen on Grey's and he has been very successful. I was wondering if anyone else has had much success with Grey partridge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted August 14, 2018 Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 21 minutes ago, Burishoole said: evening all, I have just started a program to reintroduce grey partridge back in to an area in Northamptonshire, very lucky as the land we shoot is ideal habitat. I have spoken with the rest of the guns and we are not shooting them at all until they are at a level that warrants taking a few, we have started with 28 adults and I also have chicks which are currently being reared by Bantam, I have a contact in the local area who is mad keen on Grey's and he has been very successful. I was wondering if anyone else has had much success with Grey partridge? hello, well done, i love to see partridges out in the fields, very few on my friends farm this year, to many buzzards and red kites so be aware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rem708 Posted August 15, 2018 Report Share Posted August 15, 2018 I know of a shoot in Northamptonshire that are big on Grey's and have a huge area set aside for natural breeding. It is also supplemented with reared day-old's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted August 15, 2018 Report Share Posted August 15, 2018 13 hours ago, Burishoole said: evening all, I have just started a program to reintroduce grey partridge back in to an area in Northamptonshire, very lucky as the land we shoot is ideal habitat. I have spoken with the rest of the guns and we are not shooting them at all until they are at a level that warrants taking a few, we have started with 28 adults and I also have chicks which are currently being reared by Bantam, I have a contact in the local area who is mad keen on Grey's and he has been very successful. I was wondering if anyone else has had much success with Grey partridge? when i used to game shoot near acle (in norfolk) one farm we shot on was full of greys...coveys of 20-30 strong.........we were allowed to take a few but nobody did...(couple of blank drives thank you )...........the farmer used to raise them.............i belive they are very sensitive to agressive spraying rejimes.............i have heard of other places that rear greys......last year for the first times in decades i saw 1/2doz greys on my patch and new for a fact nobody rears them near me............but my farmer has very wide CMS all around his fields.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted August 15, 2018 Report Share Posted August 15, 2018 There are none on our ground, would love to reintroduce some. This link is for a project about 20 miles from us. https://www.gwct.org.uk/news/news/2016/may/20160520/ The project started 2016 and is still going strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 If u already have breeding Greys the WORST thing u can do is release reared greys. Be plenty of info on GWCT site or phone them or speak to Dave Butler from Perdix Wildlife Supplies? i think his company is called. he also sells limited numbers over wild layed eggs raised under broodies, which is the next best thing for releasing rered birds Really vermin and habitat is the key, might depend where u are too how quick/well they respond. On the GWCT's own farm at Allerton and other english sites respond fairly quickly and populations can rise quickly, on some scottish studies and places we hae had guided tours off, despite massive ammounts of money being put into habitat (cover strips everywhere) and a FT keeper really very little success, infact quite depressing really. I have released greys in the past (no wild 1's about), althou do shoot them as well and had decent % returns, but the advice from GCT was basically i'm wasting my time, (wrong area, west coast scotland and no FT keeper) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burishoole Posted August 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 Hi all thank you for your thoughts, we currently have no Grey's at all on the shoot, I have 28 ex layers and 11 two week old pouts. I have another 12 coming in two weeks. Very exciting. I have just rented some grass land and god willing I will be rearing approximately 1500 next year. No layer boxes just good old grass and bantams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dipper Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 Reared grays don't stick around they just go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stumfelter Posted August 20, 2018 Report Share Posted August 20, 2018 18 minutes ago, dipper said: Reared grays don't stick around they just go We've released 50 Grey's a season for a few years and as you say they just go. Frenchies only this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 11 hours ago, dipper said: Reared grays don't stick around they just go I guess they must go somewhere so as a reintroduction it is quite good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted August 21, 2018 Report Share Posted August 21, 2018 12 hours ago, dipper said: Reared grays don't stick around they just go Funny i have usualy found the exact oppisate, and know a few others that say the same. And they say the same about reds, as soon as call birds are out birds are off We did try ex laying greys for a couple of years which were a complete disaster and never even seen them again even thou released in the exact same place as the poults previously Greys are a great bird for shooting walked up as will sit tight, when we had the poults u could pretty much predict where u'd find the comveys and usually never moved far And thats with no call birds in the pens. Be plenty of info on GWCT site, they used to do re-intro days where they'd give u a talk plus info pack then out to a shoot thats trying to get them back. Dunno if they still do them, if not a visit to there Allerton project for an open day might be the 2nd best. If ur in an arable area the main problem seems to be winter/spring cover as birds just so exposed to predators, and the little cover there is is usualy linear so easy picking for foxes/badgers to work there way up But really a lot of hard work. I think if u join the GWCT partridge count scheme they give u a pack and assistance/advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry_o Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 Releasing greys in one place can be detrimental to the population in a large surrounding area. Reared birds will interbreed with true wild birds and massively reduce potential numbers as they aren’t good parents and brood sizes will diminish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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