GETTY New figures show Turtle Dove numbers have crashed and may have only a few years left

Experts believe just 4,000 breeding pairs or fewer now visit Britain every summer. It is a monumental downturn from the 14,000 known to have flown over from West Africa in 2009. The RSPB now says that unless immediate action is taken to help the birds nest and feed, and stop their massacre during the hunting season, they will go the way of the Dodo.

Turtle Doves are traditionally a sign of devotion and were mentioned in both the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer.

It's not a bird many people are familiar with now, despite their huge cultural significance Jamie Wyver - RSPB

But they are perhaps best known as the gift given on the second day of Christmas in the carol, released in 1780, when “my true love gave to me, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree”. The birds used to be a common sight in Britain, arriving in April or May and leaving between July and September. However modern use of herbicides and the pressure put on agriculture by growing populations mean their numbers have been decimated.

GETTY Experts believe just 4,000 breeding pairs or fewer now visit Britain every summer

GETTY It is a monumental downturn from the 14,000 known to have flown over from West Africa in 2009

Malta and Cyprus have also faced fierce criticism for allowing shooters to blast them as they migrate, while changes to land use in west Africa, where they winter, have left them vulnerable to starvation. They have now been added to a worldwide “red list” of endangered species alongside lions and elephants. Jamie Wyver, of the RSPB, said the birds are now only rarely seen in Kent and parts of East Anglia and things were getting much tougher for them in Africa. He said: “In Senegal and Mali, trees have been chopped down to make way for farmland and they have lost their roosts. “It's not a bird many people are familiar with now, despite their huge cultural significance, especially at this time of year. “It's a big conservation problem, but we are not giving up on these birds. There is hope.”

GETTY Use of herbicides and agriculture pressure mean numbers have been decimated

The world's missing birds Fri, August 21, 2009 Play slideshow 1 of 7 A Kinglet Calyptura, one of 47 long lost species of bird that Birdlife International is attempting to find