Call to implement partridge scheme

Three of the country’s leading wildlife conservations groups have called on the Government to implement an agri-environment scheme aimed at restoring one of Ireland’s most emblematic birds to its natural farmland habitat.

Ireland’s native grey partridge population has been all but wiped out by the shift away from cereal farming and the increased use of insecticides which kill the insect food they depend on to feed their young.

The country’s last surviving colony of naturally occurring partridge in Co Offaly’s Boora parkland has, however, recovered from a record low of just 22 birds in 2002 to 933 in 2011.

The Irish Grey Partridge Conservation Trust (IGPCT), BirdWatch Ireland and the National Association of Regional Game Councils (NARGC) now want the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to back the introduction of targeted agri-environment measures to return grey partridge back to Irish farmland.

The measures aim to have suitable habitat areas in and around the Boora area in Co Offaly set aside for the ground-nesting birds.

The habitats can be delivered on tillage farms through establishment of specific crops in field margins, and on grassland farms by sowing blocks of suitable in-field crops.

As well as benefitting grey partridge, the groups said these habitats will also benefit a range of other farmland species, such as Skylark, Stock Dove and Irish Hare.

BirdWatch Ireland’s Alan Lauder said: "Many of our traditional farmland bird populations are threatened and need urgent conservation action, such as agri-environmental schemes, to protect them."

"The conservation measures being proposed for grey partridge have the potential to benefit a range of other seed-eating farmland bird species of conservation concern, such as Skylark, Stock Dove and Yellowhammer," he added.

Chairman of the IGPCT John Walsh said: "Our prescription for grey partridge will not only benefit the species, it will restore the farmland eco-system, benefit biodiversity and ensure that food production remains profitable."

The national director of NARGC, Des Crofton, said all stakeholders would benefit from the development of targeted agri-environment measures for the partridge.

"These would not only ensure the survival of Ireland’s most threatened native game-bird but deliver the benefits that the public expects from Irish farming."

"The implementation of such a measure is so obvious, and would enjoy such universal support, it is hard to see how there could be any reluctance on the part of the Minister to move it forward."

The IGPCT recently established a demonstration farm in north Dublin to convince policymakers that more ecologically sensitive farming can co-exist with modern food production.

Some 70 partridges from Boora have been relocated there, where they live on specially designated four-metre long conservation strips, dotted throughout the farm.