Grey partridge
Perdix perdix
The grey partridge is a stocky plump medium-sized game bird. Males have a brick red face with a brown crown, grey throat and breast and a large dark brown belly patch with rusty flank stripes. The females have a much duller colouration with a reduced belly patch. This resident species is associated with farmland habitats.
The species is rapidly declining in the UK. The grey partridge population fell by 84% between 1970 and 1998. The species is a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species. The drastic decline in this bird’s range and abundance is a result of agricultural intensification, resulting in loss of insect food sources on farmland. The loss of seed sources, loss of nesting habitat and the effects of predation have also been factors. Grey partridge chicks feed on insects, especially caterpillars, sawfly, beetles, bugs, ants and aphids which are abundant where field margins are wide. The adult birds feed mainly on seeds and shoots from areas such as set-aside, winter stubbles, wild bird cover/game cover, root crops, newly-sown crops and weeds in the crop margins. Safe nesting cover is vital for this ground nesting bird, such as well-drained areas with dead tussocky grass left over from the previous year, and cover provided by hedge banks, grassy field margins, ditches and nettles.
In the Tees Valley there are estimated to be 300-400 breeding pairs. There are also small populations on some industrial sites on Teesside.
