Farmers urged to help research into declining turtle doves

The RSPB said the bird, immortalised by Shakespeare and other poets as emblems of devoted love because of the strong attachment between pairs, has seen numbers drop by 88 per cent since 1970.

According to the conservation charity, turtle doves no longer breed in Wales and could vanish as a breeding bird in England if the Government cuts funding for environmental schemes on farmland.

The RSPB and the Government's conservation agency Natural England have begun a three-year research project with trials of seed rich crops being sown on farms across East Anglia and monitoring and radio tagging of turtle doves.

The research project aims to test out the theory that a factor in the decline of the birds – which survive solely on seeds – is the loss of types of seed rich arable weeds from the farmed countryside.

The RSPB said it hopes the research will help create a new option for measures farmers can implement on their land to qualify for funding under agri-environment stewardship schemes.

RSPB conservation scientist Jenny Dunn said: "They are the only migratory bird which survives solely on seeds and we believe a factor in their decline is the loss of certain arable weeds from our farmed countryside."