David Element
Wildlife
Photography and Digital Video Images
____________________________________________________________________________________________Birds 279 – Red-legged Partridges
RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE Alectoris rufa
RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE Alectoris
rufa
·
The non-native Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa was introduced to the UK
towards the end of the 18th century as a game bird and it is now
widespread, the population being supplemented by frequent, licensed, captive-bred
releases: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gamebirds-licence-to-release-common-pheasants-or-red-legged-partridges-on-certain-european-sites-or-within-500m-of-their-boundary-gl43/gl43-licence-to-release-common-pheasants-or-red-legged-partridges-on-certain-european-sites-or-within-500m-of-their-boundary. An account of the history of the Red-legged Partridge in the UK is
given here: https://www.gwct.org.uk/game/research/species/red-legged-partridge/. No prizes will be given for identifying the location where the above
photographs were taken! Their legs are certainly at the pinkish end of the red ‘spectrum’!
This publication, principally written by authors working for the Game & Wildlife
Conservation Trust, may be of interest: https://bioone.org/journals/wildlife-biology/volume-2020/issue-4/wlb.00766/Summary-review-and-synthesis--effects-on-habitats-and-wildlife/10.2981/wlb.00766.full. This paper, published by the RSPB in 2010, has drawn some
different conclusions: https://robyorke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/gamebird-release.pdf – note that the replacement of lead shot by less toxic bismuth-tin alloy
is a more recent (and welcome) development, both for the environment, for those
handling the shot, or eating the meat of birds that may have been contaminated
with this heavy metal. Restrictions banning the use of lead shot at wetland
sites will only prevent further contamination of these fragile habitats. This recent
(American) NIH scientific paper explains the consequences of lead toxicity in detail: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541097/, and the clinical risk of exposure is greatest for children. It is
inevitable that artificially introduced species (deliberate or otherwise) will
have an impact on native wildlife and habitats, one of the reasons why robust
biosecurity at borders is so important for an island nation.
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