Across Europe grey partridge have undergone a major contraction in both range and number. The extent of this decline can be appreciated when one considers c 25 Million were bagged per annum pre –1914. In Ireland local extinctions of grey partridge have occurred in all regions except those within cutaway bog. With the modernisation of agriculture, the farmland eco system has collapsed forcing the partridge to retreat to cut away bogs of Ireland where they have declined to a single wild breeding population. Cutaway bog is an open, mostly barren landscape following industrial peat extraction. What emerges is a landscape recolonised by variety of plant communities previously found in traditionally farmed tillage areas. Effectively the advent of cutaway bog was an 11th hour lifeline for a game bird that otherwise would be extinct.

 

However, cutaway bog is rapidly colonized by scrub willow and soft rush. Consequently the cutaway becomes an unsuitable environment as the diversity of flora is reduced. Farming and habitat management of the cutaway carried out by the project arrest this development thus creating a more stable environment. Management for the species involves traditional game keeping including captive breeding and the establishment of a satellite conservation project. This report will outline these strategies in summary form, and discuss the progress of events during 2006.