probably due to a loss of breeding habitat and insecticides harming insect numbers, an important food source for the species. Their numbers have fallen in these areas by as much as 85% in the last 25 years. Efforts are being made in the United Kingdom by organizations such as the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust to halt this decline by creating conservation headlands. In 1995, it was nominated a Biodiversity action plan (BAP) species. In Ireland, it is now virtually confined to the Lough Boora reserve in County Offaly where a recent conservation project has succeeded in boosting its numbers to around 900, raising hopes that it may be reintroduced to the rest of Ireland. Subspecies There are eight recognized subspecies: P. p. perdix (Linnaeus, 1758) – nominate subspecies, found in the British Isles and southern Scandinavia to Italy and the Balkans P. p. armoricana (Hartert, 1917) – found locally in France P. p. sphagnetorum (Altum, 1894) – found in the moors of the northern part of the Netherlands and northwestern Germany P. p. hispaniensis (Reichenow, 1892): Iberian grey partridge, found from the central Pyrenees to northeastern Portugal P. p. italica (Hartert, 1917) – Italian grey partridge, supposedly extinct, now reintroduced P. p. lucida (Altum, 1894) – eastern grey partridge, found from Finland east to Ural Mountains and south to the Black Sea and the northern Caucasus P. p. canescens (Burturlin, 1906) – southern grey partridge, found from Turkey east to the South Caucasus and northwestern Iran P. p. robusta (Homeyer and Tancré, 1883) – southeastern grey partridge, found from the Ural Mountains to southwestern Siberia and northwestern China References External links Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust - Grey Partridge Gray Partridge Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology Ageing and sexing (PDF; 2.6 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze Feathers of Grey partridge (Perdix perdix) Game birds grey partridge Birds described in 1758 Birds of Europe Birds of Central Asia Birds of North America grey partridge Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus