Turtle Dove

Turtle Doves are the only long distance migrant in the pigeon family.  They winter in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa , and return to breed from mid-April onwards, with most returning during early May.

Turtle Doves have a grey head, pink breast and white belly.  The wings are heavily patterned, rufous, black and grey.  They are slightly smaller than feral pigeons, and the sexes are alike.

They are lowland birds, associated with agriculture, and preferring warm dry conditions.  They require open ground for feeding, and they breed in woodland edge, parkland and cultivated or open country with trees or scrub. Nests are usually in small trees or hedgerows.  The first clutch, usually two eggs, is laid in mid-May, and incubation takes 13-14 days, and the young fledge 19-21 days later.  Pairs normally raise two broods.

The map from The Atlas (1992) reflects this habitat choice, with most pairs breeding in lowland arable farmland in the north-east quadrant of the County. The lower number of records on the more recent Distribution Map reflects the population decline.

Nationally, the Turtle Dove population has suffered an estimated 71% decline between 1970 and 1999, and it is therefore on the Red List of the Population Status of Birds in the UK – Birds of Conservation Concern: 2002-2007. The decline has continued, by an estimated 45% between 1994 and 2004.

Although large numbers are shot on migration, and the species might be affected by periodic droughts in its wintering quarters, most of the population crash is attributed to loss of food during spring and summer in Britain .  During the breeding season the Turtle Doves’ diet is almost exclusively weed seeds.  Increased use of herbicides has vastly reduced the quantity of these “weeds”. The increased use of fertiliser on grassland has promoted crop growth at the expense of weed diversity, and the change from hay to silage, and the associated earlier mowing, have also contributed to the loss of plants that produce seeds for food.

Reduction in the food supply has effectively reduced the length of the breeding season, and halved the number of clutches and young per pair.

Reduced use of herbicides, and increased plant diversity in conservation strips and headlands at the edge of fields, is necessary to help this species.

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