The Herefordshire Curlew Project

The numbers of breeding Curlew have declined dramatically across the UK in the past 40 years and there are now just over 500 breeding pairs in southern England and around 50,000 across the whole of the UK. The decline is equally dire in Herefordshire.

In order to try to address the problem, the Herefordshire Curlew Project was started in 2017 by Herefordshire Ornithological Club and in collaboration with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and other wildlife organisations it set out firstly to establish where Curlews were still breeding in the county. Having identified these sites, we then set to work with landowners to protect Curlews from the many hazards they face as a ground-nesting bird. These include grass and hay cutting, trampling by grazing stock, predation and disturbance by the public or agriculture.

From a starting estimate of about 30 possible sites there are now less than a dozen known breeding pairs all of which are in the southern half of the county. During the eight years of the Project we have gained much knowledge about the whereabouts of our Curlew, their nesting habits and their behaviour but sadly continue to see a loss in Curlew numbers. We have adopted methods for protection of nests such as electric fencing which works well against foxes and farm stock but we have so far failed to prevent avian predation by Carrion Crows. In addition, we now have a number of colour-ringed and GPS tagged birds which has given us some very useful insight into their movements and their current position.

In the meantime, our fieldwork continues annually. The Curlew is a secretive bird and it takes many hours of patient observation to establish a nest location. If you would be interested in helping with such work, we would love to hear from you [please email herefordbtorep@btinternet.com]. As well as this we would be keen to have your Curlew sightings.

Chris Robinson (for Herefordshire Curlew Project)