About our project

Thanks to a small band of dedicated and vocal naturalists, including the late Pauline Popely, our important population of Turtle Doves started to get attention. This led to Richard Baines setting up a volunteer project in 2016 focused on surveying Turtle Doves in Cropton Forest. In that year the North Yorkshire Turtle Dove Project (YNTDP) was born with Richard at the helm as the Volunteer Project Officer.

“Our North Yorkshire Turtle Dove Project works with volunteers, partner organisations and farmers to improve habitat and survey these beautiful birds. We all strongly believe that to protect our natural heritage we need to diligently collect data on populations but at the same time we need to work even harder to create, restore, and conserve habitat for Turtle Doves and many other birds.”

Richard Baines - Volunteer Project Officer, North Yorkshire Turtle Dove Project