The hills were full of Englishmen

Think of grey partridge habitat and most of us will imagine the flatlands of East Anglia; arable country and the tight cover of carefully managed hedgerows. It’s interesting to realise that many of the associations we make with partridge habitat are actually quite recent.

These beautiful and exciting birds have declined so rapidly over the past half-century that it’s now hard to see them as our predecessors saw them; a widespread and adaptable bird with the ability to thrive in all manner of different habitats. As a good example, I love listening to the tales of sporting folk in Wales who remember shooting extraordinary numbers of partridges around the mine workings and spoil heaps of major industrial sites during the 1970s.

It’s a telling reminder that, while we have