Grey partridge query .

[holloway]

I have often wondered as to why the Grey partridge has never been put on the protected list and I have heard little or in fact  nothing suggesting that it should be ,even from the antis.

  I can’t remember the last time that I ever saw one yet you could shoot them if you wish .

It may be of course that in other parts of the country they are more plentiful.

I think I am right in saying that they are a red listed species.

what does everyone think ?

Edited November 30, 2022 by holloway

[8 shot]

Not short of em here....see between 25 to 30 every day on 300 odd acres. Local big shoot released a few hundred 20 or so years ago. Biggest threat to them here are corvids and Birds of Prey. We can very rarely get round em to shoot any.. very elusive. Talking of Red Lists we're starting to see lots of Woodcock on the 5 shoots i beat on, and all but one stop shooting them years ago

Edited November 30, 2022 by 8 shot

[jall25]

I think sometimes the opportunity to harvest a few ensures that they are looked after if that makes sense.

A bit like conservation in Africa - if the game is hunted its habitat is maintained and improved 

[dogone]

   Greys were released in western Canada 100 years ago. They have done very well. Easy to find 150-200 birds a day.

     We can have quite severe weather; very hot to 40 below zero. I would have thought that with your  moderate climate they would be everywhere.

   Great sport and good eating.

[Walker570]

I'm seeing them more on shoots these days and as said they are clever little birds and will slide out of a drive at every chance and when one goes the lot go.  Back in the 50s as a young lad I lived on a 220 acre mixed farm and we always had lots of them and my grandfather organised three walk and stand shoots each season. He grew lots of mangols, swedes and potatoes and stubbles got left through the winter.   I remember the expletives from the guns when the first Frenchman was shot as they where called back then.  Our next door nirghbour had released some.  To answer your question, no I don't believe they should go on the protected list better that shoots look after them like they do all game birds.  Most estates I shoot on these days say if you want one to eat then you can shoot it, woodcock included.

[dipper]

I shoot on a large farm there are a few English .I have not shot one well over 20 years .Talked to a keeper mate about putting some down .He said they will go not to be seen again .

 

 

 

 

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Walker570 said:

I'm seeing them more on shoots these days and as said they are clever little birds and will slide out of a drive at every chance and when one goes the lot go.  Back in the 50s as a young lad I lived on a 220 acre mixed farm and we always had lots of them and my grandfather organised three walk and stand shoots each season. He grew lots of mangols, swedes and potatoes and stubbles got left through the winter.   I remember the expletives from the guns when the first Frenchman was shot as they where called back then.  Our next door nirghbour had released some.  To answer your question, no I don't believe they should go on the protected list better that shoots look after them like they do all game birds.  Most estates I shoot on these days say if you want one to eat then you can shoot it, woodcock included.

If I sat down and thought what do I miss the most with how it is today and how it once was I would say without a shadow of doubt , the English Partridge , we had more than our fair share and walking over the marshes you never knew where you would put up a covey , I dare say the peak was around the mid seventies , and I did once put a post up of a driven day ( afternoon ) we got invited on in 1976 where we got nearly 100 on one farm .

From then it had gone rapidly down hill and the odd one I used to bag I would look at it and think , will this be the last wild one I will shoot , and one year it was , as I haven't had one , or seen one for a number of years now , apart from the reared ones the estate put down .

[Penelope]

18 minutes ago, dipper said:

I shoot on a large farm there are a few English .I have not shot one well over 20 years .Talked to a keeper mate about putting some down .He said they will go not to be seen again .

 

 

 

 

We have inherited 50 or so this season from a neighboring shoot who put down a 100. Tricky little so and so's, always going out of the side of a particular drive.

[enfieldspares]

2 hours ago, dipper said:

I shoot on a large farm there are a few English .I have not shot one well over 20 years .Talked to a keeper mate about putting some down .He said they will go not to be seen again .

That's the nub. Put three pheasants down and, with luck you'll get to shoot two of them. Put three greys down and with luck you get to see them once or twice before they disappear for evermore. On a syndicate it's disappointing. On a commercial shoot it's just financially too much of a risk that you'll get no "£40 a bird shot" return on the money spent.

[marsh man]

In the 70s when all game had a good / decent price on it's head at the game dealers , we were getting very good money for a young English Partridge and I would often swap one or two for a good joint of meat , now there is very little difference in money from a French and English Partridge . when I used to take the days bag up to the dealer he would tell it was a reared one without looking at and you would be lucky to get 50p for a reared English where if you took inflation in to account a wild E / P would be into double figures in pound notes at today's rate .

How they can tell the difference from a wild / reared one I have yet to find out .

[Walker570]

Back in the 50s my grandfather had shot the ground so often years before that he knew every litle escape route and always had a gun or two slid in there. Drawing pegs didn't exist back then, guns where guests and stood where they where put.   Two coveys out of a drive was about average and guns had to be wide awake.

I see there are some entertaining videos from Turkey on youtube shooting greys over pointers and they performed in exactly the same way. Jumped from nowhere and dissappeared over the nearest bit of cover or hill, needing fast shooting by the walking guns.

[enfieldspares]

Long passed are the days of this:

Quote

There was a tale that when Ripon and Walsingham were on adjacent pegs a covey of 8 partridge went over and all were bagged.

Which story was told NOT to praise the men's expert marksmanship, no, but to praise that each man knew, from that covey, exactly which birds of the covey were his and which were his neighbour's.

[Penelope]

16 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

Long passed are the days of this:

Which story was told NOT to praise the men's expert marksmanship, no, but to praise that each man knew, from that covey, exactly which birds of the covey were his and which were his neighbour's.

Indeed. Practice makes perfect and boy did those two have some practice.

[twenty]

On 30/11/2022 at 22:15, holloway said:

I have often wondered as to why the Grey partridge has never been put on the protected list and I have heard little or in fact  nothing suggesting that it should be ,even from the antis.

  I can’t remember the last time that I ever saw one yet you could shoot them if you wish .

It may be of course that in other parts of the country they are more plentiful.

I think I am right in saying that they are a red listed species.

what does everyone think ?

Although the Grey Partridge is on the red list, it is classed as, not of concern.  

Since the 1970's, there has been an 80% reduction of greys in the UK, this is due to a number of farming changes.

Reduction of chick survival due to pesticide/herbicide/insecticide of summer cereal crops and the lack of invertebrate/insects that result from this, the reduction of unimproved rough grazing, removal of hedgerows for cereal yield improvement, are all indicative of brood failures, plus set aside and margin removal which has meant a 20% reduction in brood survival.

Unfortunately, the introduced Red Legged Partridge, dominate the Grey's where they are co- habiting, so successful Grey production is usually where they have no competition and good predator control.

However, the global estimate for Grey Partridge population is 3,900,000-7,600,000, based broadly across Europe, plus introduction to USA and Canada.

Hope this answers your question slightly.

[holloway]

Nice to read some well balanced replies thankyou, it’s nice to know that people are still seeing them in numbers elsewhere in the country clearly some areas are better suited to their successful breeding than others .

[Fellside]

As explained above, intensive agriculture is their main downfall, winter wheat monocultures being their worst killer. This is why they are doing so well in the northern USA and Canada - there are endless acres of what we would call rough ground. Ideal..!!