The Partridge   Perdix perdix Pesticides.Predation and Conservation.The Partride.One of thousands of fine bird books.Available from Birdbooksdirect.com ' The Internet's finest bird book store'.

G.R.Potts

mapThe aim of this book is to achieve a better understanding of partridge ecology, and thereby to promote methods of conservation which could arrest the enormous tide of decline for this species. Until the 1960s the partridge was a very common bird in many countries. Each autumn there was a total of over 120 million, almost all on farmland. The partridge has been exceptionally well researched because it is a favouved quarry of sportsmen, though numbers are now less than 20 million and shooting no longer occurs in many regions. The reasons for the decline are examined in detail and the major cause is found to be pesticides. In particular the use of herbicides and insecticides has reduced \par the supply of insect food available for chicks, resulting in widespread starvation. However, partridge numbers can be restored by excluding pesticides from cereal field margins - a reduction in the total use of pesticides in this crop of only 4%. Pesticides affect many species, but none are specific to the target and effects on the partridge provide a detailed example of how chemicals can indirectly affect wildlife. It is also an alarming indicator of what might have happened to many less studied species. Of interest to ecologists, game conservationists and naturalists, this book is also highly relevant to farmers and planners of the future use of the countryside. At present there is an urgent need to control the overall yield of cereals and reduce grain surpluses. Moreover there are signs that the agricultural ecosystems cannot be sustained indefinitely by current levels of pesticide use. Methods of restricting pesticide use dealt with in the book give a clear prospect of more partridges, more wildlife, little hindrance to farmers in the short term and additional benefits to the environment in the long term.

Collins.Hardback 1986.274pp.Colour plates,colour / b&w photos,sketches,tables,graphs etc.An excellent study.Condition Fine in dust wrapper.£30.00 Post Free UK

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