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Ysbyty Ifan & Hiraethog update start of June 2023
During the winter we worked under challenging conditions with the area’s farmers blocking ditches, creating scrapes, cutting rushes, introducing cattle to graze the rushy patches and felling conifer plantations where predators can hide. We are so very grateful to our farmers – the project simply wouldn’t exist without them! On 21 April, which happens to…
Curlew LIFE reaches halfway point with busy breeding season ahead
Happy World Curlew Day 2023! As we join with bird lovers across the globe in celebrating this wonderful species on their international awareness day, we look back over the work we’ve been doing on the ground to create Curlew heaven at our five project sites around the UK. We also look ahead to what we’ll…
Intern Martine hones nest-finding skills
By Martine Stead Curlew LIFE Intern, RSPB Insh Marshes The thing about looking for a nesting Curlew is that if you can easily see a Curlew, it’s almost certainly not what you’re looking for. A Curlew that can be clearly seen through your telescope is probably walking, or feeding, or just hanging around on the marshes, and not on…
Warm welcome for Curlews returning to breed
Cairngorms waders got a rousing welcome back to their breeding grounds on Friday 17 March, with an evening of music, poetry and talks. A festive band of conservationists, farmers, nature enthusiasts and local communities came together at the Loch Insh Outdoor Centre to celebrate the arrival of ground nesting waders in Strathspey and Badenoch. Waders…
Why save the Eurasian curlew?
Since we are busy putting so much time, money, and effort into saving breeding curlew in key areas of the UK, it’s good to consider why the RSPB is doing this, with the support of EU LIFE and several other organisations. After all, it is one species, from amongst far too many, which are facing…
My experience as a CurlewLIFE volunteer by Keegan Blazey
This is a blog about my experience and thoughts as a volunteer of Cri’r Gylfinir/CurlewLIFE project in the Ysbyty Ifan and Hiraethog area. This is an initiative to prevent the extinction of a well-loved wading bird as a breeding species from Wales. I spent a season doing weekly surveys and monitoring sessions designed by the…
Ysbyty Ifan & Hiraethog – curlew breeding season 2022
Once again silence falls over Ysbyty Ifan and Hiraethog for another year, as the curlew breeding season comes to an end. What a season it has been! Compared with 2021 when we were still under covid restrictions we managed to significantly increase the effort put into surveying breeding curlew. A total of 18 fantastic volunteers…
Curlew nest finding and chick tagging at RSPB Geltsdale and Hadrian’s Wall
Sarah West, Senior Research Assistant, looks back over a busy season at RSPB Geltsdale and on farmland in the Hadrian’s Wall area. I’ve been working on the Curlew LIFE project this spring and summer to find and monitor as many curlew nests as possible, contributing to vital research to help save this much-loved declining species.…
“We’re not doing anything different!”
This is an oft uttered statement by farmers during discussions about the declining number of curlew nesting on their land. Most farmers in the Ysbyty Ifan and Hiraethog area who have curlew nesting on their land have noticed there are fewer pairs than in the past. According to Dion Williams, who farms above Pentrefoelas there…
