Turtle dove numbers in northern Europe are in “catastrophic decline” and Mediterranean hunting may be partly to blame, according to the British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
The species, which the Maltese Government allows to be hunted in spring and autumn, could be extinct in the UK by the middle of the century if the trend continued, RSPB’s Grahame Madge said.
According to the latest UK Environment Department figures, the British turtle dove breeding population dropped by 60 per cent, to 14,000 pairs, in the five years to 2010.
The RSPB estimated that numbers have fallen 93 per cent since the 1970s. “Numbers are in freefall and our urgent priority is to give them a parachute,” Mr Madge said. The birds migrate from Africa to Europe in spring.
Various factors could be causing the decline, including disease, changing farming practices, loss of habitat and drought, according to the RSPB. “Of course, we also have to look at the impact of hunting turtle doves in the Mediterranean where it is legal in certain countries, including Malta,” Mr Madge said.
Besides Malta, turtle doves, which have unfavourable conservation status in the EU, are legally hunted in Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Austria and Portugal.
They are also widely hunted in North Africa.
Malta derogated from the EU Birds Directive to be the only EU state to allow hunters to shoot turtle doves last spring. Malta permitted hunters to shoot 11,000 turtle doves last spring and 9,000 turtle doves in spring 2011. According to official planning authority accounts, 6,110 licensed hunters reported shooting 805 turtle doves during this year’s spring hunting season.
In spring 2011, 5,642 licensed hunters reported shooting 1,842 turtle doves.
Despite failing to reach their quotas, the hunting federation, FKNK, has lobbied for increased spring bag limits.
When contacted, the federation said they would respond to questions on the impact of hunting on turtle dove populations next week.
An Environment Ministry spokesman rejected the notion that the “limited, strictly controlled and supervised” spring hunting season in Malta could in any manner influence the population trends of turtle dove elsewhere in Europe.