The UK’s most endangered species!
There are approximately 60,000 breeding pairs of Curlew in the UK, although that number is perhaps somewhat on the high side. On the face of it survival of the species seems pretty good until you realise that ‘nest failure rate’ stands at 80+%.
Clearly, we must act with urgency to ensure the survival of this iconic bird.
There is no single reason for nest failure: rather a combination of environmental issues (both man-made and natural) is to blame: Predation on eggs and chicks, early grass cutting by farmers for silage to meet consumer demand for food, destruction of habitat by other means and not enough protected reserves and so on.
If this ‘arterial bleed’ is not stopped now then the worst case forecast is that in as little as 10 years our UK Curlew will be extinct. And when you consider that UK breeding pairs make up 25% of the world’s breeding population and that the UK breeding population declined by at least 62% between 1969-2015 and continues to do so, then you realise how urgent a matter this is if we are to ensure the survival of our Curlews.
You can help and you can do something…one click is all it takes to find out more:
Meter The Light 