Last Christmas? Partridges and turtle doves face risk of extinction in UK

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/06/christmas-partridges-turtle-doves-face-extinction?intcmp=122


The turtle dove population, currently estimated at 14,000 pairs, dropped 60% in the five years to 2010. Photograph: Andrew Darrington/Alamy

For at least 200 years it has been a yuletide staple, but the traditional world of the popular carol The Twelve Days of Christmas is now under threat as never before.

Partridges and turtle doves are disappearing from the countryside at such alarming rates that without urgent action the species may cease to exist in the UK outside the verses of the festive classic, scientists have warned.

And, though they are the most seriously imperilled of the lovers' tokens bestowed between Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, the fortunes of many others are dwindling too: French hens, maids-a-milking, lords-a-leaping, and pipers and drummers all face difficult times.

The latest wild bird statistics published by Defra on Thursday showed dramatic declines for the first two subjects of the Christmas song.