Turtle Dove Conservation and Welfare: A Species in Crisis

The turtle dove is one of the most rapidly declining farmland birds in the UK, having lost 98% of its population since 1970. Conservation programs address both population survival and the welfare of individual birds in remaining populations.

Key Facts

UK turtle dove populations have declined by approximately 98% since 1970 — one of the steepest declines of any UK bird species
Turtle doves are migratory, spending winters in sub-Saharan Africa and breeding in UK farmland — threats span the entire migration route
Loss of arable weed seed food sources in UK farming has reduced breeding success by reducing chick and adult food availability
Hunting in Mediterranean countries kills an estimated 2.1 million turtle doves annually on the migration route
The Operation Turtle Dove program provides RSPB-guided farm management advice to improve habitat for breeding doves
Nest predation by corvids and cats contributes to breeding failure in fragmented habitats with reduced nest concealment
International coordination through the European Turtle Dove Action Plan is essential for a species with threats across multiple countries

Welfare Considerations

Turtle dove welfare is inseparable from turtle dove conservation: a species at 2% of its 1970 population is experiencing a catastrophic welfare failure at population scale, where the welfare of the vast majority of individuals in that population has been compromised by landscape-level changes to their food resources, breeding habitat, and migration routes. Individual welfare dimensions are also significant: the 3,500 km migration from sub-Saharan Africa to UK breeding grounds is one of the most energetically demanding journeys made by any UK bird, and conditions along the route — food availability, weather, and hunting pressure — affect individual bird welfare throughout. The hunting mortality on the Mediterranean migration route is a welfare harm that compounds the population crisis: millions of individual birds experiencing shooting deaths, wounding, and trapping annually on a route they share with hundreds of other migratory species. UK farm management changes — creating food plots with arable wildflower mixes, maintaining rough cover for nesting, reducing pesticide use to restore invertebrate prey for chicks — address the UK portion of the problem while international lobbying for hunting moratoria addresses the migration route.

What You Can Do

Create food plots in gardens or rural land with dove-preferred seed sources including common fumitory and knotgrass
Support Operation Turtle Dove through RSPB and its farm management advisory program
Advocate through BirdLife International for hunting moratoria for turtle doves in Mediterranean countries
Reduce pesticide use on any land you manage to restore invertebrate and arable weed seed availability
Donate to the RSPB turtle dove conservation program which directly supports breeding habitat improvement