Grey Partridge
The Grey Partridge, also known as the English Partridge, is a game bird in the pheasant family. It is a rotund bird, 11 to 13 inches in length, brown-backed, with grey flanks and chest and an orange face. The belly is white, usually marked with a large chestnut-brown horseshoe mark in males and also in some females. When disturbed, it flies a short distance with whirring wings and occasional glides and often calling.
The Grey Partridge is widespread and common throughout much of its range and breeds on farmland across most of Europe in to west Asia. The nest is usually located in the margin of a cereal field where the hens lay up to 20 eggs. The Grey Partridge has also been introduced widely into Canada, the USA, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It is a non-migratory terrestrial species and groups of up to 15 to 20 birds known as coveys are most usually seen outside the breeding season.
In the UK, the Grey Partridge is traditionally found in lowland arable areas but although once very common and widespread, it has undergone a serious population decline throughout most of its range due to a loss of breeding habitat through the intensification of agriculture and possibly due to the loss of food supplies. Numbers have fallen by as much as 85% in the last 25 years and the species is now designated as a Red List species.
The Grey Partridge is a seed-eating species but the young in particular take insects as an essential protein supply. During the first 10 days of life, the young can only digest insects.
Date: 26th January 2015
Location: Flitcham, Norfolk
The Grey Partridge is widespread and common throughout much of its range and breeds on farmland across most of Europe in to west Asia. The nest is usually located in the margin of a cereal field where the hens lay up to 20 eggs. The Grey Partridge has also been introduced widely into Canada, the USA, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It is a non-migratory terrestrial species and groups of up to 15 to 20 birds known as coveys are most usually seen outside the breeding season.
In the UK, the Grey Partridge is traditionally found in lowland arable areas but although once very common and widespread, it has undergone a serious population decline throughout most of its range due to a loss of breeding habitat through the intensification of agriculture and possibly due to the loss of food supplies. Numbers have fallen by as much as 85% in the last 25 years and the species is now designated as a Red List species.
The Grey Partridge is a seed-eating species but the young in particular take insects as an essential protein supply. During the first 10 days of life, the young can only digest insects.
Date: 26th January 2015
Location: Flitcham, Norfolk
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