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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…
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…
