How the Yorkshire Dales is Leading The Way to Save Endangered Curlews

The largest ever translocation of curlew eggs has begun

Now 120 precious eggs from the Yorkshire Dales are being transported to the South of England to help save this endangered species.

Ground-nesting birds are in severe decline in most parts of England. Five estates in Yorkshire (West Arkengarthdale, Bolton, Gunnerside, Grinton and Reeth) are taking part in a new project to help tackle that, and all five have healthy populations of breeding curlew.  We spoke to Darren Chadwick, coordinator of the Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group, to find out more. 

The number of curlew has fallen by about 60 percent in England and Scotland since the 1980s. ‘The curlew is a priority species of conservation concern in the UK at the moment,’ says Darren. ‘It’s a red-listed species and its decline has been so dramatic in the last 20 years that alarm bells have been ringing. In some places they’ve dwindled as much as 50 percent or more, and in some areas they’re even facing local extinction. The main cause of this has been an increase in predators and some changes in agriculture.

‘There are approximately less than 250 pairs of curlew south of Birmingham, where they were once quite common, and the numbers have been retracting at an alarming rate. On the managed moors here in the Yorkshire Dales we’ve got a really healthy, strong population, sufficient to supply young curlews to new sites. There’s been a lot of survey work that’s taken place before and during this project to monitor the populations to make sure the project doesn’t have any impact on our existing birds, and that’s ongoing. We do know that the birds will lay another clutch if the eggs are taken within a week or so [of being laid], so it really could be a win-win situation for curlew, which is the main priority.’

The relocation scheme launched last year, with 40 eggs collected from grouse moors and adjacent grassland, and that translocation was so successful that this year the number of eggs collected has tripled. ‘We got around 98 percent hatch rate, which exceeded Natural England’s target of 80 percent, and we went on to successfully rear and release in excess of 35 chicks,’ says Darren. ‘These chicks are mature at 50 days old, they can fly, and they’re fitted with GPS tags so we can monitor their progress as they disperse from their release point. They’re not sexually mature until they’re around two or three years old so we don’t expect to see any immediate results.’

This year three locations are receiving curlew: The Duke of Norfolk’s Peppering Estate in Sussex, Lord Cranborne’s Estate in Dorset and Mr Philip Merricks’ National Nature Reserve at Elmley in Kent. It’s hoped the birds will survive to adulthood and return in two years’ time to form new breeding colonies in these areas. ‘At the moment, in this second stage, the hatch rate has been around 96 percent, which is something that we’re very pleased about, and as we speak the chicks are in large open pens being reared for release at their sites,’ Darren adds.

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