Christmas birds in major decline

Published on 07/12/2012 00:49

Two of the UK’s most 
well-known Christmas birds have seen a big fall in numbers over the past few years.

Turtle doves and grey partridges, which feature in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, have seen numbers plummet by almost 60 per cent and 30 per cent respectively in the five years to 2010.

Conservationists yesterday described it as a “wildlife disaster”.