Perdix perdix

CH — Critically endangered

CH — Practically extinct

Up until the 1970s, the grey partridge bred widely in this country. Its rapid decline began with the intensification of agriculture. Increasingly effective herbicides and pesticides, larger fields devoid of hedgerows and bushes, heavy mechanisation and fertiliser use transformed diverse cultural landscapes into agricultural deserts. For many species of wildlife, they offer neither food nor shelter. As a result, even extensive conservation programmes have failed to rescue the grey partridge in Switzerland — the species cannot survive in intensively used farmland areas.