Record-breaking number of volunteers gift their time to Turtle Doves - RSPB
Turtle Doves are making a promising, but fragile recovery – and volunteers are playing a vital role.
This year, a record 112 dedicated volunteers donated their time to Operation Turtle Dove’s monitoring network. That’s a 9% increase from last year, and together they have combed through thousands of trail camera images. Working alongside farmers, landowners and Conservation Advisers, their monitoring efforts are helping to provide better nesting and feeding habitat for these rare birds across southern and eastern England.
Two Turtle Doves?
Turtle Doves, most famous for their appearance in the classic carol ‘12 Days of Christmas’, are one of the UK’s most threatened species. Their populations plummeted here, with a 98% decline between 1995 and 2023. Changes to our farmland meant fewer wildflower seeds – their main source of food – and the loss of hedgerows and scrub has taken away safe nesting spots.
These migratory doves spend their winter in West Africa before heading back to our shores for spring and summer to breed. Until recently, unsustainable levels of hunting along their migration route through south-west Europe were also adding pressure to a population already in trouble.
Following their sharp decline, hunting was stopped during 2021 in France, Spain and Portugal. No birds were taken for four years and, in that time, the western European population increased by over 30%.
Posted On: 02/12/2025
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