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A man with binoculars and another with a spotting scope looking out across an upland field.

Curlew LIFE teams reflect on 2023 breeding season

If we had to sum up this year’s Curlew breeding season at our five project areas around the UK, we’d say it was insightful, busy and challenging, but thankfully it was also productive. In this round-up of the season, we’ll take you behind the scenes with our project teams and volunteers, sharing some of our…

Curlew breeding season 2023 at Ysbyty Ifan & Hiraethog

In August project staff Lucy, Emily, Sam, Siân and Rhian were astounded to see and hear one last straggler still attentively guarding a Curlew chick up on one of the moors in our project area. This was a surprise since all other Curlews, adults and chicks, in the project area had departed, many of them…

Volunteer teams boost impact of Curlew LIFE

Volunteers are a crucial part of the Curlew LIFE team. We quite simply couldn’t achieve some of our goals without their hard work and dedication, supporting our project teams on and off reserve in three of our five project areas. With the Curlews now back on their wintering grounds after a busy breeding season, we…

Residential volunteer looks back on life with the Curlews

Andy Scott, Curlew LIFE residential volunteer at RSPB Geltsdale, looks back over a season of pitting his wits against the notoriously crafty Curlews… My name is Andy and I’ve spent the last 3 and a half months living at RSPB Geltsdale in Cumbria, monitoring Curlews as part of the Curlew LIFE project. My role at…

Fake eggs, fluffy chicks & radio transmitters – monitoring Curlews at RSPB Insh Marshes

The Curlew breeding season is in full swing at RSPB Insh Marshes. We catch up with our Curlew LIFE intern Martine Stead to see how it’s going so far… “Now it is all about searching for chicks,” urges Thijs Claes, Curlew LIFE project officer, over a chilli he’s cooked for the Curlew LIFE volunteers and…

Volunteer Week 2023 – Celebrating the local people at the heart of our Curlew conservation

Volunteers from the communities around our project sites are playing a crucial role in Curlew LIFE. As we celebrate this year’s Volunteer Week, Thijs Claes, our project lead at RSPB Insh Marshes, reflects on some of the ways that volunteers are helping their local Curlews. I take a short break from updating spreadsheets with survey…

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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…