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.

Continued

Environment Groups Must ‘Take Share Of Blame For Curlew Decline’

By Rhys Gregory On Apr 24, 2019 

Farmers have hit back at claims over the role of farming in the decline of curlews and other species, saying environmental charities and advisors must take their fair share of the blame for policies which have led to habitat degradation and increased predation.

The RSPB claims farming practices are partly to blame for a drop of 80% in the number of curlews in Wales since 1990, but farmers say environmental policies on vast areas of curlew habitat were based on advice from environmental charities and advisors – and that many of these have been particularly damaging for species such as curlews.

Around 40% of Welsh agricultural land is subject to environmental scheme rules, with the percentage far higher in key upland areas which were once core nesting areas for curlews.

“Many areas which were once full of nesting curlews have for two decades or more been in schemes that have reduced grazing drastically, and the curlews have now gone – so it’s clear that the advice from environmental charities and advisors about reducing grazing was wrong,” said FUW President Glyn Roberts.

The RSPB has admitted that vegetation overgrowth is having an adverse impact on suitable nesting habitat and that grazing levels need to be increased to help curlews and other species such as golden plover.

“Overgrowth of vegetation on land which was previously ideal for curlews and other species is a direct result of undergrazing, often as a result of environmental scheme rules, and farmers who took great pleasure in the curlews which once nested on their land are extremely angry that their warnings about the adverse environmental impacts of removing animals from habitat were ignored.

“It’s welcome that this problem is finally being acknowledged by the likes of the RSPB, but there also needs to be some acknowledgement that the policies which led to drastic cuts in wildlife were based in the first place on advice and lobbying by environmental charities and advisors.”

The RSPB’s state of birds in Wales report, published in December, states “…curlews show a preference for habitats with lower vegetation densities and only moderate rush cover” acknowledging that where livestock densities have been greatly reduced compared to historic levels “…it is highly likely that habitat conditions will have deteriorated for curlews.”

Read on

Decline in curlew birds as farming 'destroys habitat'

19 April 2019

The number of curlews in Wales has dropped by 80% since 1990 with farming practices partly to blame, a charity has said.

RSPB Cymru has called for farmers to be rewarded for creating suitable habitats for the bird when a new payments scheme comes into force after Brexit.

It is estimated only 400 breeding curlew pairs are left in Wales.

The Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) said nature should not be prioritised at the expense of the rural economy.

RSPB Cymru has been working on National Trust-owned land in Ysbyty Ifan, Conwy county, to restore curlew habitats.

It claims the bird's decline was due, in part, to farming practices.

"[It is linked to] how hay is harvested as silage earlier on in the year, but there's also been a decline in invertebrates, which is food for the curlew," said Sabine Nouvet, an ecologist with the trust in Snowdonia and Llyn.

The Welsh Government has consulted on proposals for the agricultural payments system - due to replace the Common Agriculture Policy - and will consult further later this year.

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Bitterns, curlews and lapwings at risk as vital wildlife funds dry up

Bird experts call on ministers to plug gap left by EU grants worth millions of pounds

Robin McKie

Sat 8 Dec 2018 16.00 GMT

They are some of the most elusive birds to nest in the UK. Indeed, they hide so well in their reedbed homes that ornithologists can only estimate bittern numbers by counting the sources of the booming sounds made by males in summer. It is a census that has produced alarming results. Only 11 booming bitterns were counted across the country in the 1990s.

But since then the bittern has begun to bounce back – thanks to a remarkable system of EU environment awards called Life grants. One of these, worth €3.9m (£3.5m), has helped ecologists restore the bittern’s reedbeds in South and West Yorkshire and rebuild bittern numbers.

Other threatened species to benefit from Life grants include stone curlews, golden plovers and lapwings, and plants such as the sundew.

But that Life grant system is now under threat itself, and unless a replacement is found a critically important mechanism for saving endangered species will be lost.

“This is an extremely worrying development,” said Alistair Taylor of the RSPB. “The Life fund has played a vital role in holding back destruction of the environment and loss of endangered species. If we lose them, it will make it much harder to stop the rot.”

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Curlew crisis deepens: vital Australian wetlands under threat

The curlews are one of the most widespread and far-travelling of all the bird families — and also one of the most threatened. It seems that wherever they roam, habitat loss and human encroachment follows. We can’t let the Far Eastern Curlew go the same way as its fellows.

The Numeniini — a tribe of large waders including curlews and godwits — is one of the most threatened bird groups on the planet. The once-abundant Eskimo Curlew Numenius borealis of the Americas is now considered Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct), having last been spotted with certainty in the 1960s. But the plight of the Numeniini also extends over the Atlantic into the Old World. Here, the extensive drainage of wetlands across the Mediterranean and North Africa — important wintering grounds for many migratory birds across the African-Eurasian Flyway — has rendered another species, the Slender-billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris, missing in action for almost a quarter of a century.

Like the Eskimo Curlew, the possibility of the extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew cannot be confirmed for sure until we have scoured the entirety of its known breeding grounds in the Siberian wilderness for a remnant population. And although it hasn’t been recorded with confidence across its wintering range since February 1995, it’s possible that a few remaining Slender-billed Curlews — gregarious birds by nature — are still making the long trip south as part of a flock of a more common species, such as Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata or Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus.

Attempts to track down a straggling Slender-billed Curlew population continue, with the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) recently using environmental data, gleaned from tiny atoms harvested from museum specimens, to pinpoint a potential breeding ground in the Kazakh steppes. But with each year that passes, it becomes more likely that Europe has suffered its first avian extinction since the Great Auk Pinguinus impennis croaked its last in 1852.

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Delight as three curlews hatch at Co Antrim farm

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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Puffin alert! RSPB warns of extinction risk to Scotland’s cutest seabird

11th April 2017 by Susan Smith 

The puffin and the curlew have been moved onto the conservation red list in the latest report into the state of birds in the UK

Scotland's iconic puffin is at risk of global extinction and the much loved curlew is now the most pressing bird conservation priority in the UK, according to a new report.

More than one quarter of UK birds are in need of urgent conservation effort according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) latest State of UK birds report. 

The report found that more than a quarter of the UK’s regularly-occurring bird species, including many whose strongholds are in Scotland, are now what conservationists refer to as red-listed.

Read more at

Rare bird facing extinction in southern England following sharp fall in New Forest

Chris Yandell, New Forest Chief Reporter

ALARMING new figures suggest that one of Britain's rarest ground-nesting birds is at risk of extinction in southern England - including its New Forest stronghold.

Experts are warning that the iconic sight and sound of curlews in the Forest could soon be a thing of the past - thanks partly to disturbance caused by walkers, cyclists and dogs.

It follows a survey by Wild New Forest, which provides data to the Forestry Commission, Natural England and New Forest National Park Authority (NPA).

The group found just 40 breeding pairs of curlews across the National Park last year, suggesting a drop of almost two thirds in ten years.

Nationally curlews have declined by 24 per cent over the past 25 years. There are now less than 200 pairs left in the south which, according to experts, makes the New Forest situation even more disturbing.

Now the NPA and other organisations have issued a warning to the public ahead of the curlew nesting season, which starts in April or May.

Nigel Matthews, the NPA's head of recreation, management and learning, told the Daily Echo: "The New Forest curlew population is extremely important – in some ways it’s a barometer for the well-being of wildlife in the area.

"Disturbance is likely to be a cause of the decline and it’s vital we do all we can to reduce instances of birds being startled by people.

"Working with other Forest organisations, we have helped design new signs for use across the open forest this year. The signs make it clear that walkers and their dogs, cyclists and horse riders should all stay on the main tracks when crossing heathland from now until August."

Prof Russell Wynn, a member of Wild New Forest and the NPA, issued a similar plea. 

 
Continued

More than half of world's godwits and curlews face extinction

Posted on: 02 Mar 2017

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A ground-breaking study has revealed that habitat loss could lead to the extinction of some of the world's curlew and godwit species.
Godwits and curlews – which make up the subfamily Numeniini of the sandpiper family Scolopacidae – occur on all continents except Antarctica, but breed only in the Northern Hemisphere. Over half are of global conservation concern, with two of these – Eskimo Curlew and Slender-billed Curlew – currently treated as Critically Endangered though both are likely to be extinct.
Far Eastern Curlew, a charismatic species of the East Asian Flyway, is considered Endangered, while Bristle-thighed Curlew, breeding in Alaska and wintering on tropical Pacific islands, is listed as Vulnerable. Three further species – Eurasian Curlew and Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits, all of which occur in the UK – are globally Near Threatened.
The just-published study canvassed the views of over 100 experts and reviewed the scientific literature to help highlight the many threats they face, and top of the list is the loss of non-breeding habitat.
Most species rely on coastal estuaries and wetlands outside of the breeding season, many of which face increasing development and disturbance. This pressure is greatest in the Yellow Sea of China and Korea, perhaps the most important staging area in the world for migratory birds in terms of numbers, diversity and proportion of threatened species. Part of the East Asian Australasian Flyway, the Yellow Sea provides a vital rung in the migratory ladder between northern breeding areas in Asia and Alaska and southern non-breeding areas as far south as New Zealand and as far west as India.
A quarter of the Yellow Sea's mudflat feeding areas have been lost since the 1980s and much of the remainder is heavily degraded, causing declines in many wader species that depend on it. Increasing pressure for coastal development elsewhere in Asia and across the Americas may similarly affect other species.

continued 

Growing threat to England's curlews from climate change

By Matt McGrath

Environment correspondent, BBC News

Much-loved birds including curlews and cuckoos are under a growing threat from climate change in England, according to a new report.

Other species including golden plovers and lapwings are also at risk from rising temperatures in the coming decades.

The report says changing conditions in England will significantly benefit wasps, ants and many southern species.

The study is said to be the largest of its kind ever undertaken in England.

Researchers looked at the impacts of a 2 degrees C rise in global average temperatures on over 3,000 species. They projected where the most suitable ranges for these plants and animals would be found in 2080.

When the researchers looked in more detail at 155 species listed as being of high conservation concern, 38% were identified as being at risk with 39% potentially benefitting from warmer temperatures.

"The positive side of things is kind of painting maybe too rosy a glow, because many species may not get there," Dr Humphrey Crick from Natural England told BBC News.

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Lapwings and Curlews

RSPB fears for curlew and lapwing in Northern Ireland after "cuts"

The RSPB has concerns over the lapwing's future in Northern Ireland

The director of the RSPB in Northern Ireland has said he fears the curlew could be extinct in the country within a decade.

He also fears the lapwing will be in terminal decline if the Department of Agriculture does not address financial cuts to the countryside management scheme.

The scheme provides grants to landowners for adopting farming practices that enhance the countryside.

It is delivered by the department.

James Robinson, who is director of the RSPB in Northern Ireland, said the scheme helped birds such as the lapwing and curlew which were "red-listed or threatened species".

However, he said a continued reduction in funding could have serious consequences for their future.

"In recent years, farmers have used the grants to help wildlife and they are popular grants," he said.

He said he had estimated that since 2010, about £40m has been cut from Northern Ireland's countryside management scheme.

"This means that farmers who want to join the scheme cannot do so," he added.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-19978811

Farmers and wildlife charities join forces to bring back the lapwing

The lapwing is an iconic bird of the wide open arable lands and the moors of southern England which has suffered a catastrophic decline in recent years.

Now a landscape-scale study across 120 sites in five different counties in lowland Britain – including Dorset – by leading research charity the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) in collaboration with the RSPB is under way to try to reverse the decline.

Scientists hope it will provide crucial information that will help improve Government schemes that pay farmers to put in special wildlife measures to help lapwings.

Latest figures show that lapwing, one of our most widely recognised waders and often called the 'farmer's friend', have fallen by about 50 % over the last 30 years.

Dr Andrew Hoodless, a wader scientist with the GWCT said: "Lapwings are very adaptable birds and because they nest on wet grassland, upland moors or arable land they should be doing quite well, but they are not. We know that the problem is not over-winter survival, but that the lapwings are simply not fledging sufficient chicks each year to maintain a stable population."

Continued:  http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Farmers-wildlife-charities-join-forces-bring/story-17106910-detail/story.html