Turtle Doves Turn Up in Cornwall After African Migration

The soft purring call of one of Britain’s rarest birds has been heard again in the West Country this spring, and Cornwall is among the places it has been recorded.

Turtle doves released across Devon and Somerset last year have returned to the region after flying to sub-Saharan Africa and back. Sightings have also been logged more widely across the South West, including in Cornwall, which conservationists say points to the birds starting to establish themselves across a broader area. The team behind the release describes it as the strongest evidence yet that the species could be brought back to western Britain.

A long way home

In May 2025, 244 turtle doves were released across three rewilding sites in the South West. Seventy birds went to Rewilding Coombeshead in Devon, 124 to Cannwood Estate in Somerset and another 50 to Cove Valley in Devon. This spring they were recorded back at all three sites, having completed one of the most demanding migrations undertaken by any British bird.

Derek Gow, founder of Rewilding Coombeshead, said the return was the real test of the project. “We knew the birds could survive and breed here. The real test was whether they could complete one of the most challenging migrations undertaken by any British bird and return to the places where they were released. The fact that we are now recording returning turtle doves across multiple sites is incredibly encouraging. It suggests we are beginning to rebuild populations in parts of Britain where the species has all but disappeared. These are still early days, but this is exactly the outcome we hoped to see.”

A bird on the edge

The turtle dove was once a common sight across Britain. It is now the country’s fastest-declining bird, with numbers down by more than 95% since the 1970s. Around 2,100 breeding pairs remain, mostly in Kent, Suffolk and Essex.

Red-listed and close to extinction in the UK, the species is considered functionally extinct across much of western Britain. It no longer breeds in Wales, Scotland or Ireland.

How the project works

The work began in late 2023 with three purpose-built aviaries designed to help captive-bred birds get used to life in the wild. After their release in May 2025, the doves settled quickly, and their purring call was heard again in parts of the country where it had been absent for years. Birds were seen building nests, breeding and raising young before leaving for Africa that autumn.

At Cannwood Estate, a monitoring programme combining field observations with remote acoustic recorders has picked up several returning birds. “This spring our monitoring team recorded six sightings, the first of which was on 3rd May,” the estate said. “They have been seen, heard and recorded on our remote audio recording devices that are dotted around the farm. We expect to see and hear more turtle doves as the season rolls on and are especially hopeful to record doves at one or all of our dedicated feeding stations. As the project continues through the years we expect to record a growing population of turtle doves at Cannwood and the wider area.”

What happens next

Further reinforcement releases are planned across all three sites during 2026 and 2027. Some of the birds released this year will be fitted with satellite tags, letting conservationists track their migration routes and learn more about the dangers the doves face on the journey between Britain and Africa. The hope is to establish a self-sustaining breeding population in western Britain within the next three years.