Dear Readers, first of all, happy Christmas to those of you who are celebrating! Thank you for your support, comments, contributions and general wonderfulness this year. You are an amazing bunch, and I wish you everything that you’d hope for for yourselves.

Now, what is all this about a partridge in a pear tree? For a start, partridges are ground birds, and so most unlikely to be sitting in a tree of any kind. And why a pear tree, which at this time of year would be devoid of fruit or blossom or leaves. So first, let’s look at the bird.  We have two species in the UK, the increasingly rare grey partridge (Perdix perdix), which has declined by 94% in Europe over the past four decades, largely due to more intensive agriculture, and the use of pesticides which kill off the insects that the partridge chicks need to thrive.

Grey partridge (Perdix perdix) (Photo One)

However, in many areas it has been replaced by the red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) which was introduced to the UK from mainland Europe as a game bird (presumably as the grey partridge became rarer, there needed to be something for the usual suspects to shoot). This is a slightly larger bird, and interestingly this is the one shown on the Christmas card at the top of the post, not the native species. I imagine that gradually when someone says ‘partridge’, this is what people will think of.

Red-legged partridge with chicks (Photo Two)

However, neither of these birds is particularly likely to be in a pear tree, so what’s going on? The most likely explanation I’ve heard is that the song is a misinterpretation of the Norman French name for the bird, which is Perdrix – you can imagine that being heard as ‘per-dree’, and the rest could well be history.

How about pear trees, though? The domestic pear tree (Pyrus communis) is also an introduction,  though it probably arrived over a thousand years ago, and has since made itself at home in hedgerows and woodland margins all over the country. An individual tree can live for up to a thousand years (if not cut down for HS2 like the Cubbington pear) and in China they are considered to be a symbol of immortality. Though unlikely to be harbouring any partridges of either species, the pear tree is extremely valuable for wildlife, from the blackbirds and other thrushes who feast on the fruit to the wide variety of caterpillars who munch on the leaves. The blossom is wonderful too, and if you are thinking about a small tree for the garden, you could do much worse.

Pear blossom (Photo Three)

So lovely readers, as promised yesterday, here is our first question. Don’t forget, submit your answers in the comments after the Twelve Days of Christmas are finished (the last question will be on the 5th of January, and you will have until 5 p.m. on Friday 7th January to post your response).

Question One

What is the link between today’s post and this lot?

Photo Credits

Photo One by Frank Vassen from https://www.flickr.com/photos/42244964@N03/6502006513 

Photo Two by Lynne Kirton / Red-legged partridge with chicks

Photo Three by Sten Porse, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons