New Life

Blog by Project Manager, Amanda Perkins

Four chicks. New life does bring hope and joy and enables us to escape temporarily from more serious matters. We are delighted that Curlew Cam has been enjoyed by so many of you. Thank you for your positive interest, feedback and support.

Thank you to the small hard-working team involved in bringing us this treat:

Farming partners Wynford and Joyce who kept an eye on the birds in their territory
Curlew Country ornithologist Tony who, with help from Wynford and Joyce, located the nest and keeps the welfare of these birds paramount whilst running the fieldwork
Farming partner Trish whose field the pair have chosen to nest in this year
Chris New for enabling us to stream through Secure Web Services (link to website)
Peter Dobson from Carnyx Wild who has helped endlessly with the technical quality of the livestream and all sorts of extra bonus work (link to website)
Tim the assistant ornithologist who (with a little help from Tony) maintains the nest site with precision, pragmatism, dedication and cheerfulness
Amber who frantically keeps the communications up-to-date, answers queries and enables the swan to glide whilst frantically paddling her legs below water
Billy Clapham for his fabulous film which sparked interest in this pair and led to them being featured on Springwatch last year and then as a partner live camera this year

Yes, I did feel dis-allowed emotion when I saw the fourth chick had arrived successfully. Used as we are to infertile eggs, chicks trying but failing to emerge from eggs or something else going wrong in the process it was with surprise and relief that I glimpsed the last chick arrive. There are often one or more eggs which do not hatch.

After the feat of endurance incubating the eggs, our Curlew Cam family will have to face greater challenges. Predators will be on the lookout and they may have to travel to find food for both age groups making them vulnerable to other risks. The Curlew Cam field will not be subject to normal agricultural activities during the time the chicks are there, but most other Curlew families on farms will face accidental disturbance or even destruction as farmers won’t know the Curlews are there, and will not be in a position to save them even if they do. Our research and trials have shown the urgent need for realistic support for farmers and funding for predation control.