The Yorkshire Post Says: Doves are riding high

Efforts to help revive the number of turtle doves in North Yorkshire's moorland and coastal areas can draw an inspiration from a similar project in the county that has achieved great success.

By The Newsroom

Published 31st Aug 2017, 11:00 BST

Updated 11th Sep 2017, 13:01 BST

A new project by the North York Moors National Park Authority is designed to help reverse the dangerous national decline in the numbers of turtle doves, with fewer than 100 of the birds believed to be nesting in the whole of Yorkshire.

Such an effort can only be applauded - and it is heartening to hear of the involvement of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the scheme. The RSPB also assisted in a partnership to reintroduce red kites around the Harewood estate near Leeds in the late 1990s.

That project has been a spectacular success and at the last count, there were more than 300 red kites in the area around Harewood. If the same expertise can be applied to the turtle dove project, it seems certain to take off.