Partridge & Biometrics JOIN THE PCS The country’s wild grey partridges need more land managers, especially those with only a few grey partridges, to join the Partridge Count Scheme. Find out more at gwct.org.uk/pcs.
Partridge Count Scheme Effective partridge-friendly management helps support partridge populations and advances recovery. © Kalina Georgieva
KEY FINDINGS More than 6,600 grey partridge pairs were recorded in 2020. National productivity, recorded as Young-to-Old ratio, increased by 24% to 2.6 young birds per adult. National autumn density averaged 20.2 birds per 100ha, an increase of 7% from 2019.
Neville Kingdon Julie Ewald
The results of the 2020 spring and autumn grey partridge counts from the PCS are summarised in Table 1. A total of 530 spring counts were received, 6% (31) fewer counts than for spring 2019. Although disappointing it is not wholly unexpected, with delays in counting due to the wet start to the year, followed by the Covid-19 lockdown that prevented access to count areas for those not living on-site. Despite this, PCS participants were still able to count 6,654 grey partridge pairs over an area of 171,900 hectares (ha) (424,800 acres). This was a 10% decline from the 7,406 pairs recorded in 2019, due mainly to the decline in the area counted. Average pair density across all PCS sites nationally remained stable at four pairs per 100ha (250 acres), but eastern England, Midlands and Scotland recorded regional declines of 13-19% from their 2019 densities. The long-term trend in spring pair density on long-term sites (those participating before 1999) remained stable at an average of 5.7 pairs per 100ha (see Figure 1). This analysis adjusted for site turnover and missing counts, as not all sites managed to return counts in every year. Meanwhile, ‘new’ sites recorded a 7% decline in pair density, with an average of 3.4 pairs per 100ha. In autumn 2020, 500 counts were received, an encouraging increase from the 476 of 2019 (see Table 1), especially as it is the first rise in autumn counts returned
Figure 1
Long-term sites
New sites
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are extremely grateful to GCUSA for its ongoing support of our grey partridge work.
72 | GAME & WILDLIFE REVIEW 2020
Spring grey partridge pairs per 100 hectares (95% CL)
Trends in the grey partridge spring pair density, controlling for variation in different count areas
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