Without action, curlew will become virtually extinct as a native Irish breeding bird after 2025

Many of today’s curlew territories have been discovered thanks to the help of local people with an intimate knowledge of their areas. Again in 2022, local people, especially farmers and landowners, were a key part of the conservation programme

Curlew Conservation Programme Annual Report 2022: Curlew (identified as a male by its short bill) returning to its breeding grounds on Lough Ree. Picture: Owen Murphy / CCP

Some good news for the curlew at the start of the year — a nest protection system is helping the extinction-threatened bird to breed successfully.

Loss of natural habitat is regularly blamed for its decline, but the Curlew Conservation Programme’s (CCP) annual report for 2022 also highlights dangers posed by predators which take eggs and chicks from curlew nests.