Grey Partridge Perdix perdix
Breeding distribution change
Uncommon and long decreasing resident, some released/naturalised stock
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Grey Partridge maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Gains and improvements
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
25
3%
Present to breeding
34
4%
Absent to breeding
33
4%
No change
Status
Nos tetrads
Present in both
21
2%
Breeding in both
21
2%
Losses and declines
Status
Nos tetrads
Present to absent
192
21%
Breeding to present
14
2%
Breeding to absent
79
9%
Grey Partridges are native to Europe and central Asia, and have been introduced to North America. In the 19th century they were common, and indeed increasing, in Great Britain, particularly in England and southern Scotland, apparently as a result of favourable changes in agricultural practices. In the 20th century however this process went into reverse, as changes such as greater use of herbicides began to have a negative rather than positive influence on numbers. This trend accelerated from the 1960s: the national population declined by 91% between 1967 and 2010.
Grey Partridges were very common in Wiltshire in the 19th century, but declined in line with the national trend in the 20th, though they remained wide-spread. Birds of Wiltshire recorded them present in summer in 361 tetrads, with confirmed or probable breeding in 114. By 2012 however the numbers had reduced to 148 tetrads with breeding in only 88 of them. The winter distribution figures on the other hand showed an upward trend: the partial surveys conducted for Birds of Wiltshire recorded the species present in only 10% of the tetrads surveyed, equivalent to 92 tetrads overall. The surveys for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 showed they had expanded their range by 60%, to 148 tetrads.
References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.