By Staff Reporter
August 18 2017
Curlew chicks have fledged at a
Co Antrim farm for the first time in 20 years.
Last year a pair of curlews
attempted to breed at Greenmount Hill Farm in Glenwherry for the first time
since 2005 - only to fail to hatch any young.
But this summer RSPB NI's
conservation adviser Neal Warnock was delighted to see that two pairs arrived
back at the farm and he can confirm that one of the pairs has successfully
fledged three young.
It is believed these are the
first curlews to fledge from the site since the 1990s.
The happy news is a real boost
considering that over the past two decades curlew numbers across the UK have
almost halved.
In Northern Ireland more than 80%
of the curlew population has been lost since 1987.
Mr Warnock said: "When news
broke that one of the pairs had hatched three young, their progress became the
talk of the community. It was a very long six-week wait watching them grow
until they finally stretched their wings and departed.
"Curlews only rarely fledge
three young, so this was terrific news for all involved in the project and
should help see them become established on the farm."
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