A MAJOR new scheme has been launched in an attempt to halt the dramatic decline in numbers of one of Britain’s best-loved birds.

The purring call of the turtle dove is rapidly becoming rarer and the species is considered by experts to be vulnerable to global extinction.

But a £100,000 project led by the North York Moors National Park hopes to try and reverse that through research and conservation work over the next three years.

The UK population of the turtle dove has suffered a 91 per cent decline since 1995 and a 51 per cent contraction of range since 1970.

Although once a common sight, it’s believed there may now be fewer than 100 birds nesting in the whole of Yorkshire.

The Moors authority has been awarded £64,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the scheme and a project officer, Richard Baines, has been appointed to lead it.

One of the few places where they survive is the moorland beauty spot of Lockton, near Pickering, said Mr Baines.

"The reason for their successful survival in the village is because of gardens, large hedges, native trees and shrubs, garden ponds and small fields with good links to nearby forests and Newtondale.

"However we are concerned our local population of the doves may not be finding enough habitat and food to increase their numbers and recover from their low population."

He is urging moorland residents to help. "If people have a farm or are in control of land, big or small, and have areas which could be managed to improve feeding and habitats, we need to hear from them."

The project will focus on where turtle doves have been recorded recently, principally around the forests of the southern fringe of the park.

The project will be delivered by a number of partners including the park authority as lead, the Forestry Commission, RSPB, North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre, Scarborough Borough Council and the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Crucially local volunteers also be working in partnership with land managers and communities and the results of their survey effort will enable the team to tailor advice to land managers in the area whose land has potential to support the birds.