Two partridges from a pear tree
The first driven day of the season is always exciting. But 9 October brought anticipation almost as palpable as the sea fret that rose from the marshes at dawn. The cockerel bellowed his morning alarm as the Garnham household stirred into action, preparing bacon rolls, cakes, soups and sausage rolls: if guests don’t see much sport, they at least leave well fed. But season 2021-22 brings special reason to be optimistic.
For years I’ve been trying to re-establish grey partridges on my patch. Relentless fox control; subdivided fields; weedy headlands; butterfly and bee mixes; Larsen trapping; beetle banks; extensive hedge planting and restoration: we’ve done it all. To no avail.
“Not since Thatcher was PM have we had a covey here”
In 2018 a wild pair nested but without success. Before that we’d had no greys for two
