English Partridges

trouble

Well-Known Member
Following a recent post about partridges i thought now would be a good time to ask all the shooting men and fellow keepers on here if they would go the nextra mile and make the effort to release some english partridges each year , even if its a few reared under a broody hen . Surely if we all do a little it will help one of our rarest native game birds and maybe help our image a little .
 
Following a recent post about partridges i thought now would be a good time to ask all the shooting men and fellow keepers on here if they would go the nextra mile and make the effort to release some english partridges each year , even if its a few reared under a broody hen . Surely if we all do a little it will help one of our rarest native game birds and maybe help our image a little .

i totaly agree they sound lovely on a summers evening! and they need all the help they can get!!!!
 
Hi Trouble,
We have a scheme going round here where all the local shoots release 20 English a season, eggs bought in and incubated and reared on one shoot then distributed, all have colour coded rings identifying where released, any shot during the season, (guns are asked to refrain from shooting them but it happens) are logged where they are shot, and boy do they travel, it has provided the area with breeding pairs and every little helps!
 
did a 100 4 seasons ago they didnt really stick that well on our heavy clay ground but on the sandy soil on the top of the farm they liked it and we do have a covey stick around all year which i love to see ,i think habitat is the important thing for release really we have 6 m margins and sandy banks they love to dust:D
 
We put down 100 every year and try not to shoot them, obviously it does happen though. Been putting 100 down every year for 5 years now and we've seen a difference on the farm in terms of numbers for sure. I wrekon around 70% will have moved on to pastures new, but the 30% that have stayed have certainly been breeding. Must make a difference, even if its only on a very local scale ?

Tom
 
Sounds a good idea, we put 200 down a few years ago. They made an appearance on the first shoot day, none were shot. After that we did not see them again all season, until the spring when I saw one.
That one disappeared never to be seen again.
Surely to help it would be good if other farms under took some kind of vermin control, even if it was just a few Larsen traps.
When we first entered the country side stewardship scheme I mentioned this to the boffins that came out, surprise surprise they did not want to know. They did however try to tell me that brown hares were in decline just as we virtually stood on one.
I feel that for the greys to make any kind of comeback we need to do more then just provide habitat.
Just my pennies worth.

ATB

Nick.
 
We release 100 a year. And shoot them about 20% return.
We once tried 300 and shot no more.
We have a wid population now usually about 30 pair on the esate.
Last year a pair had 16 and reared 14 thats a nice covey.
I now release in the areas where the buzzards favour less. Though they rarely are quick enough for the greys the birds hate to see them constantly gliding around and leave that area. Sadly its getting harder to find somewhere where the buzzards don't frequent.
 
during a gcwt walk a discussion was had about release and habitat was said to be a key factor along with predator control also a theory that just letting 100 odd birds onto your plot is not going to do much good ,looking at the posts there maybe some merit in that ,but established pairs being released onto the shoot did do much better ,any wild bird keepers out there to offer any help ?
 
The GWCT have done a stack of work on grey partridge. It all boils down to modern farming and the amount of sprays that now go onto the land. But with good predator control and at least some suitable habitat then they can hold on. The most important factor is don't shoot the ones you have, unless there are good numbers on the ground. Releasing grey partridge has been proven to do little for boosting breeding numbers, the consensus was if you have even one or two pairs of wild birds it is far more benificial to look after them the best you can than release X amount of incubator hatched poults.

I am also 100% that the release of thousands of redlegs has also contributed to the decline of the GP. My little patch of under 200 acres is not ideal partridge habitat, too may woodlands and hedgerow trees, but normally has a couple of coveys of GP and 3 or 4 pairs come spring. A mile or so away the ground is ideal partridge land, rolling chalk downland, few trees, game crops etc, this has a commercial redleg shoot on it but has next to no GP. I would say there must be a disease/ parasite carry over from redlegs to the wild GP.

Bit ironic after the dry spring now we at the peak hatch time for grey partridge the weather has changed to cold and wet!
 
The GWCT have done a stack of work on grey partridge. It all boils down to modern farming and the amount of sprays that now go onto the land. But with good predator control and at least some suitable habitat then they can hold on. The most important factor is don't shoot the ones you have, unless there are good numbers on the ground. Releasing grey partridge has been proven to do little for boosting breeding numbers, the consensus was if you have even one or two pairs of wild birds it is far more benificial to look after them the best you can than release X amount of incubator hatched poults.

I am also 100% that the release of thousands of redlegs has also contributed to the decline of the GP. My little patch of under 200 acres is not ideal partridge habitat, too may woodlands and hedgerow trees, but normally has a couple of coveys of GP and 3 or 4 pairs come spring. A mile or so away the ground is ideal partridge land, rolling chalk downland, few trees, game crops etc, this has a commercial redleg shoot on it but has next to no GP. I would say there must be a disease/ parasite carry over from redlegs to the wild GP.

Bit ironic after the dry spring now we at the peak hatch time for grey partridge the weather has changed to cold and wet!

Not sure about parasite probs but I am certain that they push them off the ground as we've witnessed them fighting with released frenchmen. We always had a covey or two but since we increased the amount of redlegs we don't see them anymore yet we are part of the high level stewardship scheme so we do take care of the habitat. I looked at releasing some this year but after talking to a local wild bird keeper he told me it wouldn't be worth it. I would love to see them on the ground but as redlegs tend to make for better sport I know the boss will stick with them. Commercial interests take priority at the mo. It shouldn't be that way but that's how it is.
 
surely if we all released a few it would make some kind of difference! most shoots border each other!! and if everybody did it!!
just a thought!!!
 
These reared english are hard work we tried put down 200 a year but gave up. We did not see them and nor did anyone else. You also get a natural loss through the winter and a natural spread out in the spring.

I am going to try the portabello system (Think thats how its spelt) were you put a mature pair in a pen in the spring and let them bring off thier own chicks in the saftey of the pen and release them from there. It will mean a lot of work but that is how many of the great shoots in north norfolk built thier stock up so its worth a go.
 
We have just got 6 pairs given off a mate who this year has decided to release 25 pairs on their shoot.£30 fine if anyone shoots any greys,it should be interesting,It would be lovely to see wild greys about again.
Atb john.
 
I am releasing a few this year,can anyone tell me if grey poults can be fostered "game con method" onto redlegged natural pairs,ta.
 
A good idea if it works, I used to run a shoot where I released 2000 greys 6 days driven shooting and a couple of walked up days returns of just over 700 so thirty something percent not to bad.

However no stock survived to the following year would see them throughout the winter but come spring no partridges left on the ground,never found evidence of them having died, if they moved how far as none of my neighbours benefited from them.

More recently released 300 three years running on small rough shoot shot only a handful the first two years and decided not to shoot any the third year made no difference no partridges on the ground come spring,unfortunately the lease holder would not fund further releases.

May be partly due to the climate being harsher , but this was on ground that carried a good wild partridge population forty years ago, though there have been no wild partridges for a long time now.
 
I released about 70 for a couple of years, but as others have said they just went. Although this is not good partridge ground I can remember a time when there were always a few about. Not any more.
The ones I released have not shown up at all, the redlegs survive OK and occasionally rear a brood.
Like the present day released pheasants I wonder if the ability to bring off and rear broods is being bred out of them.
 
Old keeper,
I think you are not too far off there, for generations these birds have been hatched in incubators.
All the pheasants we have left over and the few Frenchmen seem absolutely obsessed with feeders, but I suppose when for all of your life every meal came from a quad and spinner or later on a feeder you would be.
They do not seem to be able to fend for themselves.
Maybe we should try leaving hens to go broody and rear their own chicks, even in pens.
The only down side would be serious cost, and a big enough pen so as not to make too much mess.


ATB

Nick
 
reared pheasants and even reared Redlegs will sometimes go on to rear broods the following spring but for some reason the native grey partridge is a miserable failure when it comes to reared birds going on to breed successfully in the wild. I have not shot one for a quite a few years but we do have the odd covey here and there, anyway I get far more pleasure seeing a covey trying to squat down and hide on the post harvest stubble than I do knocking one out of the air later in the winter.

If you want to encourage the greys on your ground I advise you to contact the Game conservancy, they have been researching the decline of grey partridge for many years now and have some very good information available.
 
Just releasing reared greys will not improve or increase a wild popuation as they are simply not the same bird. As everyone has said with reared greys is they just sod off! We are trying to increase our wild grays and the main factors to get right first is habitat and vermin control! will be fostering broody reared poults to barren pairs and have some of last years broody reared birds that are now hatching their own broods in pens. Whether it will work time will tell!!
 
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