World Curlew Day – celebrating the conservation role of shooting

Today, 21 April, is the ninth annual World Curlew Day which helps drive awareness and action for what many consider to be the UK’s number one bird conservation priority.  

This annual day in the calendar is the brainchild of journalist and author Mary Colwell and the committed curlew conservation community, which includes BASC and its members.

So, what do things look like in 2026?

Frankly, the conservation status of curlew remains frightening. The only place where curlew and a host of other ground nesting wading birds are doing consistently well are grouse moors where they continue to find the ideal conditions to successfully breed.

Those efforts are recognised in the UK curlew action plan which was launched in January at an event in Westminster Hall. The plan states:

“The remaining strongholds of breeding Curlew in England and mainland Scotland are on areas managed as or adjacent to grouse moors where predator control is practical.”

And:

“Collaborative work by farmers, landowners, gamekeepers and conservationists is demonstrating that declines can be halted, and population recovery of this much-loved bird is possible.”

At the launch event one of the key speakers said that they knew of an upland estate in Northern England that had more breeding curlew on it than are estimated to reside in Northern Ireland. That is a shocking statistic albeit shows what can be achieved when the conditions are suitable locally for breeding success.

The plan examines why curlew have declined and this is mainly related to changes in farmland, which has been driven by policy and market forces, the loss of wetlands and unchecked predation of nests by generalist predators such as fox and carrion crow.

The core actions in the plan include managing landscapes for curlew and implementing supportive farming schemes. Recommended actions including funding for farmers to move away from silage, restoring a cutting regime for hay, and payments for the management of species that predate on curlew eggs and chicks.