Curlew Country welcomes the second trainee headstarter. Elspeth is from one of our Farming Partner families and has been one of several of a younger generation attending our meetings because of their fascination with Curlews. We rely on Elspeth’s knowledge to tell us where the pair that nest on her farm have settled. Many of our farmers are relieved that the Curlews have a chance of reproducing young through head-starting but are desperately keen to try and make natural nest recovery along the lines that we have trialed work.
My Name is Elspeth, and I am an Artist from Shropshire, I spend most of my time drawing or out walking in the local countryside with my little dog Pippin. I take a lot of my artistic inspiration from the lan
d and the wildlife around me, in lots of my artwork you will see Mushrooms, Brambles, Moths, blackberries and lots of other reoccurring themes taken from nature. My two passions have always been art and wildlife so being able to entwine the two is perfect.
Living my whole life so far on a farm in the Shropshire hills, hearing the Curlew every morning at the start of spring has always been something me and my family look forward too each year and we always look out for them nesting on our land. The sound of the Curlew always reminds me of the beginning of the spring and the start of warmer, better weather. The Curlew have been on our land for as long as I can remember growing up, and once the Curlew Country meetings started up dad and my granddad started attending. My sister and I joined them for the first time when we were younger, and I have continued to attend meetings with dad as the years have passed. I have always had a love and an interest in nature and caring for the wildlife around me, I’m very lucky to be able to join this project to help repopulate a bird that is important to me and my family as the spring wouldn’t be the same without them.
My sister and I were gifted chickens on our 6th and 3rd birthday, and we got more as we got older. We ended u
p with 40 or so chickens, some Geese and Turkeys.
I loved going and sitting in the sun and just spending time with them as they have such lovely and silly personalities that are very fun to watch. I have many fond memories of being in the garage with dad and in the dark with a big old metal torch candling the chicken, turkey and geese eggs and seeing what was growing inside. Once the chicks hatched, we were very attached to them and it was heart breaking when sometimes a chick would not make it but unfortunately it does happen, and it is not always within your power to help.