2010 marked the nineteenth year since Dr Brendan Kavanagh saw his first wild grey partridge while conducting a baseline survey of aturraun cutaway bog. Nearly 20 years later, wild grey partridge have arrived at yet another crossroads.
The 2010 autumn population stands at 908, a long way from 21 birds in the autumn of 2001. While this figure represents the highest ever recorded we are by no means there yet. Securing the core population at Boora is only the first step. The longer term goal of the Nation Grey Partridge Conservation Project is to bring wild grey partridge out of isolation in Boora and back into their traditional farmland home in the Irish countryside.
Below is a table showing the Annaul population counts from 1991-2009
Year | spring pairs | %yearly change spring pairs | Autumn wild origin pop | % yearly change autumn wild | Autmn released origin pop | Autumn total pop | % wild origin birds relative to total pop |
1991 | 17 | 17 | |||||
1992 | 35 | +106 | 35 | ||||
1993 | 38 | +9 | 38 | ||||
1994 | 79 | 79 | |||||
1995 | 107 | 107 | |||||
1996 | 42 | +11 | 42 | ||||
1997 | 14 | 55 | +31 | 55 | |||
1998 | 6 | +57 | 24 | -56 | 24 | ||
1999 | 6 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 24 | ||
2000 | 8 | +33 | 22 | -8 | 22 | ||
2001 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 22 | ||
2002 | 14 | +75 | 28 | +27 | 55 | 83 | 34 |
2003 | 17 | +21 | 48 | 71 | 37 | 85 | 56 |
2004 | 24 | +41 | 66 | +38 | 54 | 120 | 55 |
2005 | 27 | +13 | 148 | +124 | 12 | 160 | 93 |
2006 | 27 | 0 | 77 | -48 | 54 | 131 | 59 |
2007 | 25 | -7 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
2008 | 18 | -28 | 144 | 242 | 40 | ||
2009 | 32 | 78 | 220 | +124 | 253 | 473 | 47 |