We have noticed that local birds tend to choose grassland of about 30cms in length that is long enough to hide in, but short enough to look out of if necessary. Adults need to be able to hide safely as well as lookout over the vegetation during the early […]
Amber Bicheno
71 posts
Away from moorland and upland areas, curlew have nested in traditional hay meadows which are now much rarer on farmland. Their nesting sites may now be grazed by cattle and/or sheep, or in a crop of silage or hay. This pair are nesting in cattle grazed pasture with rush […]
Both birds take turns to incubate the eggs with a changeover every few hours. The bird not incubating goes to feed nearby if possible and keeps a look out for predators. From time to time you may hear that bird alarm calling from a distance when it senses danger. […]
Curlew Comment The pair are both ‘colour ringed’. You can see the rings on their legs when they stand up in the nest. Tony Cross the project ornithologist ringed these birds and many other curlew at their pre-breeding roost on the River Severn as part of the project work. Please […]
The nest area is fenced temporarily with strands of electric wire to deter mammalian predators such as foxes and badgers. One of our project partners, the Game and Wildife Conservation Trust, told us about a NABU project in Schleswig-Holstein where Natalie Meyer had trialled fences around curlew nests for […]
Curlew are ground-nesting birds. We think that this is the pair that has already tried to nest on a nearby piece of grassland on a common, but their nest was predated either by crows or badgers, so this is a second attempt at nesting. The ornithologist was drawn to […]
On Monday 29th May, 2017, some of the Curlew Country team were joined by Tim Main. Tim along with others had been in touch about curlew sightings outside the Curlew Country boundaries in Shropshire. Tim came out in the hope that learning more about Curlew could lead him to help […]
Amber Bicheno, Stiperstones and Corndon LPS Trainee, has been assisting with the Curlew Country Project in 2017. Find out what she’s been doing with the team this week (07/06/2017). This was the next step. It meant we had made it, at least a little further, in successfully getting some […]
Heather Scott, a placement student gaining work experience as part of a Harper Adams University Countryside Management Course spent some time with Tony Cross, ornithologist and Amanda Perkins, project manager on Monday 15th May. She has written a piece about her experience. We started out from the office at about […]
On Monday 22nd May, Mike Smart from the ‘Call of the Curlew, Slimbridge Symposium’ group visited the project. Mandi and Tony had been privileged to go with Mike and Natalie Meyer from the NABU project looking around wader nesting sites in Gloucester and Worcester, before they all participated in the […]
