Largest number of curlew fledglings since 2017

Curlew, Numenius arquata, in cotton grass. File picture.

The final year of a dedicated conservation programme for one of Ireland’s most threatened breeding birds has seen the largest number of young curlews fledged into the wild since it began in 2017.

Once synonymous with the Irish landscape, the curlew has since suffered a 98% crash in population, primarily due to changes in landscape and land use, with the wet, marginal land they thrived on being depleted and made inhospitable.

The programme to pioneer conservation efforts was funded and co-ordinated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and two Government departments, Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

It had a comprehensive framework that included habitat restoration, maintenance, enhancement, and creation; survey effort, nest protection; public and community engagement.

Action teams were established in the Stacks Mountains (Kerry), Lough Corrib North (Galway). Lough-Ree (Roscommon Westmeath), North Roscommon/Mayo, Mid-Leitrim, North Monaghan, Donegal, Sliabh Aughties (Clare Galway), Laois/Kildare.

The first annual report from the CCP) documents 42 chicks reaching the fledging stage in 2023, up from 19 in 2022. This represents an increase of 221% in the number of chicks fledged.

A total of 38 breeding pairs were confirmed breeding in the nine geographical areas where the programme operated around the country, with another ten pairs considered ‘possible’ breeders. Nationally, just 100 breeding pairs are remaining.

Responding to the report, Minister of State Malcolm Noonan said a key success of the programme has been the engagement with farmers, landowners, and local communities, who are central to all the conservation efforts.

“Our history, culture and communities have such a deep connection with this precious species and its unique call, heard for centuries on our meadows and wetlands.

“The work pioneered by the Curlew Conservation Programme over the past seven years shows that there are practical conservation efforts that we can take to stave off extinction of the curlew.

“It also shows that we need to ramp these efforts up significantly while also addressing wider land use changes. We will be announcing detailed plans to do just this in the very near future, building on the solid foundations that the Curlew Conservation Programme has provided,” he said.

Thanking the programme teams for all their work, Minister Noonan said it provides many useful insights. As ground-nesting birds, curlew nests and eggs are vulnerable to predators, infield operations and disturbance. This is compounded by degradation and loss of habitat in landscapes, he said.

The CCP was established in response to a national survey, which identified the scale of the loss and action required to save the curlew from extinction. In Ireland, the population of the species has declined by 98% since the late 1980s.

Over the past seven years, NPWS has worked together with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to support local teams on the ground on a wide range of conservation activities.

Significant efforts undertaken by the programme have included everything from surveys to nest protection, landowner and community engagement, awareness raising, research and the restoration and maintenance of habitats.

This year saw the highest number of chicks being fledged since the programme began. This has been attributed to the more widespread use of head-starting – a practice which the CCP has implemented since 2021.

It involves collecting curlew eggs from wild birds’ nests and incubating them in a controlled environment until they hatch. The chicks are reared in pens until they are ready for release back into the wild.

The practice of head-starting is still in its infancy but shows encouraging signs in supporting a greater number of chicks to reach the fledgling stage.

However, while it may provide a valuable boost to the number of birds being fledged, the NPWS says it does not address the underlying issue of habitat loss and degradation, as well as the long-term viability of the population.

Dr Barry O’Donoghue, NPWS, who led the programme, said it has been and remains one of the greatest conservation challenges of our time: “We started at a time when curlew had not even been studied properly. We now know confidently, where curlews are across the country and what the issues facing them are and how these issues can to be addressed.

“While the headline figures from the CCP areas may provide hope for the future, we ultimately need to restore the environment upon which these birds rely, and this includes wider issues even beyond immediate ecological considerations.

“While it was estimated in 2016 that the curlew had just ten years left until extinction in Ireland, the efforts of the Curlew Conservation Programme appear to have, for now, helped stave off this extinction.

“The number of chicks thought necessary to maintain a population into the future was annually met in the CCP areas."