Wynford Jones and his wife Joyce were the first farmers to contact the Landscape Partnership Scheme when it was set up back in 2013. With my colleague John Brayford, I am responsible for the Farming Project and took the call. Wynford was in fact phoning not for advice, but to say that he was not […]
The Oakdale Saga – The challenge faced by farmers and chicks Read More »
Did any chicks survive? One morning at the end of the season, I received an email from a farmer in Wales to say that they had seen ‘their’ curlew family flying greater distances from the farm, and now they have disappeared. Phew – we now know that some chicks have fledged successfully and stand a
End of 2017 Breeding Season – Project Summary Read More »
It was a bitter-sweet visit to the Curlew Country project in Shropshire on June 12th. It was a baking hot day, and for a couple of hours before lunch Amanda Perkins and Tony Cross from the project, Phil Sheldrake (RSPB), Mike Smart (ace birdwatcher) and myself tried to find three or four chicks that were
Until the last Curlew Calls… Blog by Mary Colwell Hector Read More »
For over a decade local Community Wildife Groups have been carrying out adult wader surveys from rights of way according to British Trust for Ornithology methodology. This citizen science discovered the dramatic decline in the local curlew population and now informs the project about curlew territories helping to point the nest finding team in
A Project Advisory Group oversees the technical work of the project. Local partners include Natural England and the National Trust, and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) is a partner at a national level. During the early stages of the project the local RSPB representative was hugely important in helping us to design
This year we have been responding to requests to help others from curlew projects starting up around the country to start to train them in the nest finding process. It is important that those hoping to learn how to find nests already have a good understanding of wildlife and a lot of patience. We
The project needs funding to help secure a future for local curlew and play its part in the survival of the wider curlew population. Please help us to secure a Country for Curlew, find out how you can help here. Curlew Fact Without essential intervention work to help the population recover, it is estimated
To reverse dramatic local curlew population decline it is necessary to raise higher numbers of chicks. Alongside the trial of electric fencing to deter mammalian predators, lethal fox control is being carried out during the breeding season by specialist contractors. The Curlew Country project has received a great deal of professional advice in respect
Last year to celebrate the visit to the local study area of Mary Colwell Hector, Curlew ‘ambassador’, a range of arts activities were initiated. Writing and sculpture workshops were held and a curlew choir was formed. Not only was awareness raised about the plight of the curlew among audiences old and new, but funds
In 2016, whilst ringing the ornithologist Tony Cross satellite tagged two curlews at Dolyd Hafren that we named Dolly and Fran, (much to his disapproval). Fran travelled to the Begwyn Hills, but was unlikely to have bred given her movement pattern and the last recorded signals for her were off the coast of Belgium.
We are collaborating with the British Trust for Ornithology to produce a film on curlew observation, to help those keen to undertake curlew monitoring in the future. Local wildlife photographer Ben Osborne has been filming curlews throughout their breeding season, both in the Shropshire Hills and Welsh Marches and also on a managed grouse
In the more northern areas of the UK other Curlew Recovery Projects have started up. In the Curlew Country study area of Shropshire and the Welsh Marches, there is a mixture of upland and lowland habitat and the species linked to it. Outside upland projects, mainly centred on reserves and managed moorland, there is