Endangered species - Another victim of our lifestyle

IS it really possible that a bird once so commonplace, so recognisable in shape and sound in every estuary and bog, on virtually every mountainside and shoreline, is facing extinction in Ireland within a decade?

Yet that is what Birdwatch Ireland have warned. Population trends uncovered while compiling statistics for the forthcoming Bird Atlas for these islands have set alarm bells ringing. They have revealed a species-threatening collapse in curlew numbers.

Twenty years ago, there were more than 12,000 pairs nesting here but today there are no more than a few hundred. At this rate of decline, the population may not be able to sustain itself and could disappear from our countryside in a few short years. Our grandchildren may celebrate the reintroduction of the curlew as today we celebrate the reintroduction of so many raptors.