Can you help? Have you seen or heard a Curlew? Do you know where Curlew nest?

Curlew Country is racing against time to save our local Curlew from extinction. Curlew have evolved for thousands of years to keep their nest location secret. The first step in helping the birds is for our trained ornithologists to find the nests. We need to know where these birds have been sighted. Can you help us?

Young Curlew in first flight

Please use the form below to submit your sightings. The information will be passed to our field ornithologist and one of our team may get in touch if there is anything that needs clarifying. Your personal details will only be used by us to help verify your sighting and will not shared with third parties. The exact location of bird sightings will be obscured for privacy and to minimise disturbance to the birds. 

Curlew Country operates across the Shropshire and Montgomery area. We are keen to receive sightings of any birds seen in the project area at any time of year. This helps improve our understanding of how Curlews are using the landscape.  

We are also interested in receiving sightings of our colour-ringed birds from anywhere during the autumn/winter, as well as on their breeding grounds. A high-powered spotting scope or super-telephoto lens camera are essential kit for confirming the 2-3 letter codes printed on one of the colour rings. If using a telescope, it’s important to confirm the code by reading it at least three times. This reduces the risk of inaccurately identifying individuals and impacting the quality of the data provided by colour ringing schemes. 

Curlews ringed by our Consultant Ornithologist can have any combination of green, yellow, orange and black colour rings above the tibia. The codes are written in black lettering on yellow rings (read down the leg) and white lettering on black rings (read up the leg). 

Report a Curlew Sighting

dd/mm/yyyy
Please enter ///What3Words location
Did the Curlew have any visible rings? Please record: Colour / Numbers / Letters
If you have any additional information you feel may be important please enter it here.

Your personal details will only be used by us to help verify your sighting and will not be shared with third parties. The exact location of bird sightings will be obscured for privacy and to minimise disturbance to the birds. For more information about our privacy policy the button below.

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