WHY CURLEWS MATTER

Curlews are an iconic bird species of the British landscape, and their haunting call has inspired artists, poets and nature-lovers for generations. But Curlews are now a Red List species, meaning that they are under threat of extinction. The UK has over half of Europe’s Curlews, yet we’ve lost half their breeding population in just 20 years! Curlews have been breeding, or attempting to breed, in Tysoe for decades. We cannot lose them now.

But there is still time! Curlews return to the same breeding sites each year. With your help, we can give them a fighting chance by protecting the habitats in which they breed and feed. As ground-nesting birds they are very vulnerable to predation.

Over the past five years local Curlew conservation groups working across the Upper Thames, including just two sites in south Warwickshire, have managed to protect 110 nests using temporary electric fencing, resulting in an 74% hatching success rate - a huge improvement compared to the average of 25% for unprotected nests. Thanks to these efforts, 61 young Curlews have successfully fledged, but that is only 55% successful fledglings.

But we need to scale up our efforts if we’re to see Curlews thrive in the Upper Thames and South Warwickshire by supporting the few breeding pairs which are left.

We thank you for your support.

Mike Pollard, Upper Thames Wader Group