The Curlew – An Endangered Wader

Whereas the birds in this new site’s first few posts have all been Passerines (perching birds) the Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a Wader. Sadly it is now described in Britain as a scarce resident bird with rapidly diminishing population. The fall in numbers of this distinctive Wader in Britain is replicated around the world.

Having said that, my local patch on the West Cumbria coast often has good numbers feeding by the tide, and the header photograph here shows a small group from among a flock of over fifty that day. When one sees these numbers in a small area on a good day it is too easy to forget the overall widespread situation, which is serious.

The annual World Curlew Day on 21st August (last week, before this site was launched properly) is designed to publicise the plight of this attractive and important bird. Attention is particularly needed to habitat protection and expansion to increase its breeding success. Much suitable land has been lost to the Curlew over past decades.

Note: The featured image above will be the front cover photo for my book, “Some of My Birds: Avian Therapy in West Cumbria”, due out later this year. This will be a hardback edition of 250+ pages, a considerable expansion of a shorter paperback edition (using the same image on the cover) which was produced primarily for family members last Christmas (but also available on Amazon, £10.00).