Guest blog written by Alex Morgan-Grenville, Curlew Action
The Eurasian curlew, with its long, downwards-curving bill and distinctive call, is an iconic British bird. The UK is an important stronghold, holding around a quarter of the world’s breeding population. For many, the call of the curlew is a nostalgic and evocative feature of the British countryside.
Sadly, breeding curlew numbers are in alarming decline around the UK. Curlews are ground-nesting birds that prefer open grassland, moor and meadow, away from hedgerows and forests which might harbour predators. Changes in land use, such as forestry, drainage of fields for crops and encroaching development, are also affecting the amount of viable habitat available to them. Even in suitable areas, eggs and chicks are susceptible to high levels of predation, whilst livestock densities increase the incidence of egg-trampling. In lowlands, multiple cuts of grass for silage are destroying nests and young birds. All these factors mean that curlews are simply not producing enough successful young, especially in lowland areas where they are disappearing rapidly. In Wiltshire, for example, it’s estimated that their numbers have dropped by a devastating 80% over the last 50 years, leaving only a dozen or so breeding pairs on Salisbury Plain and around Braydon Forest.
The prospects are not looking good for our largest and most tuneful wader. On the current trend, even the most optimistic estimates give the UK population less than 50 years, and some predictions are much worse. However, their disappearance is not inevitable. The curlew is now regarded as the UK’s highest priority species for bird conservation, and things are beginning to change. There are real solutions, which you can be a part of.
