Court protects ‘British’ Curlews from French hunting plan

Bird Notes columnist Julian Hughes of RSPB Cymru reveals what birds have been spotted in the past week, and lists seven upcoming wildlife events

Andrew ForgraveRural Affairs Editor

23:50, 2 SEP 2019

Fans of one of Wales’ fastest declining birds are celebrating after the Conseil d’Etat ruled that no Curlews can be hunted in France this winter.

A few weeks earlier, the French government had ignored its own advisers and announced that 6,000 of the wading birds could be shot this season.

Conservationists in the UK were outraged, since many Curlews that winter on the French coast breed on moorlands in Britain and Ireland .

The Welsh Ornithological Society and RSPB were among organisations that wrote to the French environment minister calling for a previous moratorium on hunting Curlews to be renewed.

Meanwhile, BirdLife International has called on the French government to cancel a hunt of 18,000 Turtle Doves this autumn.

Britain’s Turtle Dove population has fallen by 95% in the last 30 years, and the European Commission has started proceedings against France for failing to protect the birds.

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