Turtle Dove: towards the recovery of the turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur). In 2018, the adoption of the European Action Plan for the conservation of the turtle dove represented a milestone in the wildlife management of migratory birds. The main objective was ambitious but clear: to halt the decline of the turtle dove population across Europe by 2028. Seven years later, the data collected in 2025 mark a first, historic step in the right direction: for the first time, a population increase is observed along both the western and central-eastern flyways. This result not only legitimizes the efforts made, but relaunches the role of sustainable hunting as an integrated tool in the conservation strategy.
1. The three pillars of European action: habitat, legality, sustainability
According to the Action Plan (Fisher et al., 2018), the three main threats to the turtle dove are: habitat loss, illegal killing and unsustainable hunting. The resulting management approach, called EU Adaptive Harvest Management (EU-AHM), saw the European Commission launch in 2019 an ambitious scheme to calibrate hunting harvests based on up-to-date scientific data, demographic modelling and continuous monitoring. Differentiated actions in the two European flyways have generated distinct but converging scenarios towards recovery.
2. Western Flyway: Increase, stability and regulated reopening of hunting
In the western flyway, which includes France, Spain, Portugal and northern Italy, a complete hunting moratorium has been applied since 2021. After three years, the PECBMS update (Arroyo et al., 2025) showed a reversal of the trend: the population is increasing, although the 2015-year projection 2024-2020 is classified as stable due to the lower confidence interval still below unity. In Spain, according to Moreno-Zarate et al. (2013), the population had already stabilized between 2018 and XNUMX, with signs of recovery. In Portugal, growth curves had started to rise even before the hunting ban. 
3. Modeling, quotas and reopening criteria
Thanks to the demographic modeling developed between 2019 and 2025, it was possible to estimate a sustainable harvest quota equal to 1,5% of the post-reproductive population, corresponding to approximately 124.000 individuals out of a total of 8,31 million. This threshold, considered extremely conservative, was distributed among the four countries involved according to a methodology based on historical culling data and commitment to conservation. The northern Italian regions, less active in conservation projects, saw their quota reduced.
4. Hunting and conservation: a synergistic combination
The reopening of hunting in 2025 marks a decisive step, not only for the adaptive management of the turtle dove, but for the entire concept of hunting as a conservation tool. In Spain and France, hunters have carried out systematic environmental improvement initiatives: creation of temporary wetlands, crops left uncultivated for nesting, planting of hedges and trees. These actions have provided suitable habitats for feeding and reproduction.
5. Central-Eastern Flyway: Drastic reduction in withdrawals and signs of stabilization
In the Central-Eastern flyway (Italy, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria), the strategy was to gradually reduce catches. From 2021 to 2023, there was a 75% reduction, which reached around 90% in 2024, against a catch rate that went from an initial 18% to less than 4%. In Italy, only two regions maintained the possibility of hunting turtle doves in 2024. According to the models developed by the Commission, a catch rate lower than 4% is sustainable also in the long term. 
6. Demographic effects and first ecological responses
In 2024, spring monitoring showed an increase in the breeding population. This is an important signal, although still insufficient to define the entire ten-year curve as stable. The PECBMS data, updated to May 2025, show a slight but significant inversion. This occurred after three consecutive years of reduction in hunting and before the drastic contraction of 2024, suggesting that hunting containment has produced beneficial effects, albeit mediated by other factors.
7. National level analysis: diversified trends
According to Brlík et al. (2021), in the Central-Eastern Flyway only Greece, Romania and Bulgaria showed positive trends already before 2017, while maintaining significant hunting activity. In Italy, data from Campedelli et al. (2012) show an increase between 2000 and 2011, followed by stability until 2014 and then a decreasing phase until 2023. Evidence suggests that, at least in some countries, hunting was not the main driver of the decline, compared to other determining factors such as agricultural intensification and habitat loss. 
8. Agricultural habitat: the real critical point of conservation
The turtle dove, like many agricultural bird species, is particularly sensitive to habitat quality. Changes in agricultural practices, the disappearance of traditional crops and urbanization have drastically reduced the areas favorable to the species. The European Commission, in 2025, recommended specific interventions: population censuses, marking programs, analysis of reproductive productivity, and habitat-specific actions such as allowing seed crops to grow, maintaining hedges and creating temporary wetlands.
9. Hunters protagonists of environmental restoration
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In many European contexts, hunters have been the main actors in wildlife protection. From Greece to Italy, voluntary initiatives are multiplying: installation of water points, dedicated sowing, maintenance of productive uncultivated land and censuses on a regional basis. In the absence of direct incentives, these activities demonstrate a widespread and continuous commitment.
10. A future built on science and co-management
The experience of the turtle dove represents today a European model of adaptive management based on the integration of science, monitoring, and hunting participation. The success in reopening hunting in the western flyway is a concrete example of how sustainability is not a utopia but the result of informed decisions. The prospects for the central-eastern flyway are encouraging, but will require further monitoring and a consolidation of agricultural environmental policies. Maintaining the interest of hunters in the conservative management of species in difficulty proves, once again, a winning strategy. 2025 is the year in which conservation and hunting have found a balance, marking a historic turning point for the turtle dove in Europe.
