Britain has lost almost HALF of its breeding curlews in the last 20 years
BRITAIN has lost almost half of its breeding curlews in the last 20 years - with the drop being greatest in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In Ireland the breeding range has contracted by a massive 78 per cent.
The UK holds almost a third of the global breeding population of curlew and now the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has urged the birds to be made the “UK’s highest avian conservation priority.”
The curlew is a large European wading bird, found around coastline areas of the UK, including the Thames and Humber estuaries.
They breed at highest densities in areas of semi-natural grassland and on moorland, and are particularly associated with the uplands.
Their greatest breeding numbers are found in North Wales, the Pennines, the southern uplands and eastern Highlands of Scotland and the Northern Isles.
Using data collected by birdwatchers from across the country as part of the BTO/RSPB/JNCC Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), the (BTO) has documented several reasons for their decline.
It found drops in the curlew population had been greatest in areas where land had been converted to forest and where the population of predators such as crows and foxes was high.
Frank Gardener EVACUATED while filming Birds of Paradise
Curlews nest on the ground, leaving their chicks especially vulnerable to predators.
The report also noted curlews had declined in warmer, drier areas which it said could be because of pressures on their invertebrate food sources, such as worms and shell fish.
Mitigating climatic effects may become increasingly important
Dr Samantha Franks said: “A range of potential causes of Curlew decline have been suggested, from agricultural intensification to climate change.
“Our results show that many have probably played their part, with afforestation and predation by generalist predators probably the most important.”
The study also said data showed that attempts at managing the populations of certain animals and the size of nature reserves were increasingly important for maintaining the population of the breeding curlew.
Dr James Pearce-Higgins, Director of Science at the BTO, and co-author on the study, said: “Given current trends in the British countryside, where many things are going wrong for our breeding curlew, it is difficult to be optimistic about how many of our children and grandchildren will continue to hear the evocative call of the curlew echoing across the landscape.”
He added: “However, our results provide a glimmer of hope that effective site protection and measures to reduce predator impacts, along with management to improve breeding habitat across the countryside, may help maintain breeding populations into the future.”
Dr David Douglas, Principal Conservation Scientist at the RSPB and an author on the paper, said “This study provides further important evidence to help guide conservation efforts for breeding curlew.
“Mitigating climatic effects may become increasingly important, and the results also suggest that providing suitable habitat and reducing predation pressure may be key for maintaining curlew populations.”
The report was published In Bird Study.