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The recent declines of many of our familiar migrant species is extremely disconcerting, but that of the Turtle Dove is perhaps one of the most lamentable. I have looked through the Donna Nook log-books and found that counts during the 1960s and 1970s, although slightly lower than Graham’s numbers on the Humber bank, still closely corresponded with his records. During northward spring passage, 60-90 birds in a day were not infrequent in May or early June. Over 100 birds were noted on several dates and a peak of 138 was recorded on 1st June 1979. Numbers were still good during the 1980s, but already there were decreases starting to become apparent in some years.
Nowadays, we tend to overlook the fact that the occupation of the Turtle Dove in Lincolnshire has been only short-lived. In 1896, Alfred Newton in his Dictionary of Birds stated ‘that it was one of those species which was extending its area. In England, not much more than a century ago (ca 1790) it seems to have been chiefly, if not solely, known in southern and western counties. Though in the character of a straggler only, it now reaches the extreme north of Scotland, and is perhaps nowhere more abundant than in many of the midland and eastern counties of England.’
Its spread north and north-west ensured that it attained a foothold in southern Lincolnshire by the 1860s, and it became more generally distributed in the northern districts of the county by the 1880s and 1890s. The same type of spread, though less well-documented and probably linked to climate amelioration, was also noted on the continent and during the last forty years of the 19th century it even appeared as a casual visitor within the Arctic Circle.
Interestingly, William Tait, author of the Birds of Portugal (1924) gave a vivid impression on how numerous the species used to be. In his chapter on Migration, he writes of the immense numbers of Turtle Doves passing along the Portuguese coast and quoted some of the older sportsmen who lamented that Turtle Doves were not then so numerous as they had been. An account, perhaps exaggerated, of just one man netting 700 doves in a single spring is dismaying to say the least. In 1959, Bannerman in his Birds of the British Isles stated that we can take some comfort from Tait’s acclamation that the profusion of Turtle Doves all over Portugal was (at that date) so great during the summer months ‘where the pleasing coo-ing can be heard almost wherever one goes, that much powder and shot and much perseverance will be required before their numbers are reduced to any appreciable extent. Bannerman then concluded that we must hope that Tait’s forecast holds true today.
Sadly, the recent decreases and contraction in distribution, particularly in peripheral areas, appear to be ever-hastening. Several causes are no doubt attributable to these losses. Habitat loss, autumnal sowing of crops and the eradication of weeds by spraying have all contributed to this decline on the breeding grounds, The African wintering areas have also been subjected to much habitat destruction as well as suffering from the severe drought conditions in some areas. Meanwhile, the sustained hunting pressures across the length and breadth of the Mediterranean region are well-documented and fill one with a sense of despair for the future of the species.a
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