The wild grey partridge is a rather unassuming little bird. As befits a species that has a long list of enemies and has to hunker down on moorland to breed, it doesn’t go in for advertising its presence. Frequently the first one knows that it is around is a sudden whirring of wings and a flash of its orange mask as it wheels away at great speed, often in the company of half a dozen others.
Many factors have accounted for a decline in its numbers. Farming practice has had a huge impact and so too has the change in climate, with wetter springs driving down populations. A big influence has been the increase in numbers of buzzard and other birds of prey. And that, perhaps, offers a further insight into why the grey partridge appears on the Red List of endangered species. It simply isn’t very pretty. It doesn’t have a song of any description. It skulks about hedgerows keeping itself to itself. They don’t visit gardens and of course, providing a meal for the poster boys of bird conservation, the hawks and buzzards, means that to many birders they are just an acceptable casualty.
It’s great then to have some good news. On the Tomatin moors in Inverness-shire local gamekeepers and a collection of helpful bantam chickens have achieved a remarkable success which has seen grey partridge return there after an absence of close to 20 years.
Back in 2011 the team at the Clone estate lead by head keeper Duncan Mackenzie, came up with the idea of using the bantams to brood the eggs of greys which were struggling to rear their own chicks. That programme which has now resulted in 15 pairs of grey partridge nesting on the estate is likely to be extended to other neighbouring arears. Jenny McCallum, co-ordinator of the Tomatin Moorland Group, said: “This is a small-scale conservation project initiated and managed by the estate’s Gamekeeping staff that has resulted in small healthy populations of grey partridge on Corryrough, Clune and Kinveachy. This initiative is another example of the conservation work taking place on moors throughout Scotland to protect wildlife and create healthy habitats for numerous species.”
Small scale the project may be, but in its way wholly typical of similar UK wide efforts made by keepers, estate owners and shooters generally, each of them quietly going about the business of helping native species survive and thrive.