Warning note over future of a bird celebrated in song

The New Year’s resolutions of birdwatchers tend to differ significantly from those of the general public.

Pledges of extra hours spent slaving away in the gym or enduring the hardships of forgoing booze, fags and pork scratchings are unlikely to be at the top of the list.

For birders, a zealous bunch, vow to “do more”, with resolutions ranging from seeing more species in their local patch, catching up with those birds that have always eluded them, or seeing a new list of exotics on a trip abroad. But for many, 2013 will also feature a far more poignant pledge – to see one of our most beautiful and iconic species before it becomes extinct in the UK.

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For as the new year dawns, the unwanted spectre of extinction is hovering over one of our best-loved farmland birds. The turtle dove, one of the stars of the Yuletide carol The Twelve Days Of Christmas, has shuffled forward to take its place on the precipice as the most likely candidate to disappear from our list of breeding UK birds.

Government population figures unveiled prior to Christmas made for less than seasonal reading. Once widespread, turtle dove numbers have plummeted by an alarming 60 per cent in five years, a rate of decline that in some quarters is seen as irreversible.

That the turtle dove could be staring down the barrel of imminent extinction is nothing short of a wildlife disaster. The presence of this bird, with its soft, purring call, has for generations been a quintessential part of the British summer.

Turtle doves, often encountered in pairs, have always been a visible fixture of our landscape, so much so that Chaucer praised the bird for its habit of forming a lasting pair bond.

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This fidelity saw the dove become a well-known emblem of marital devotion. The dove is named for its song and not for any obscure link to turtles. The French word tourterelle, the sound of which closely mimics the bird’s call, has been reduced by our linguistic bungling to turtle.

Tracking down this shy summer visitor has always been high on birdwatchers’ priorities. The dove is exquisitely patterned with a pinkish head and under-parts and orange/brown scalloped wing markings; adults finish off their look with a zebra-striped thumb mark on their nape.

But in 2013 it is expected that even less birders will be rewarded with a snippet of the bird’s low, churring call – a sound so evocative of hot, lazy summer afternoons.

But why have the bird’s fortunes dipped so dramatically? Well, the turtle dove is under habitat pressure in two key locations. Wintering in sub-Saharan Africa, it has suffered from creeping desertification, hunting and changes in land use. When the birds return to UK breeding grounds in the summer, they face a farmscape that would have been unrecognisable just 50 years ago.

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A dramatic reduction of the seed-rich plants the doves feed on has left the bird without a basis for significant recovery and in serious trouble. It is now estimated there are just 14,000 pairs left in the UK.

But the fate of the turtle dove is not sealed yet. Alarmed by the seemingly uncontrollable declines, the RSPB and a number of partners have mobilised to encourage farmers to make their fields more dove-friendly.

Operation Turtle Dove focuses on advising farmers and landowners on how to provide seed-rich habitats that are so key 
to the doves.

Alison Gardner, from the partnership, explains: “It is distressing to learn that we have lost nearly 60 per cent of our turtle doves in the five years to 2010. If this decline continues, we could be down to fewer than 1,000 pairs by 2020, with complete UK extinction a real possibility.

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“We really do not want to see the fate of our beloved turtle dove follow that of the passenger pigeon which faced similar threats and became extinct 100 years ago.”

Last year a survey of turtle doves was launched in some of Yorkshire’s forests in the hope of painting a more accurate picture of how the bird is faring.

If successful, this latest scheme could provide the turtle dove with a much-needed chance to consolidate its population, as well as educating farmers on how to manage their land for the dove in the future.

If the plan fails, songwriters would be well advised to spend the new year conjuring up new carols for 2013, for the turtle dove’s place in The Twelve Days Of Christmas may soon be obsolete.

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