Curlew an open target yet again

AN old friend from days working in the bog long ago was recently talking with us about the disappearing curlew, whose evocative ‘cur..lee cur..lee’ cry hasn’t been heard for years.

Funny thing, his reminder about the bird, which we used call the ‘curloon’, came just a day, or two, before an email arrived from the office of Arts and Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan, announcing the removal of the open season during which the curlew could be hunted.

Incredibly for a bird whose demise has been signalled by observant bogmen for years, it could be still shot during the month of November. Where anyone could find a curlew to shoot is, of course, another question, so scarce has it become. It ought to have had full protection decades ago.

Last year, a survey carried out by UCC researchers showed its population had declined by 80% since the 1970s. There were fewer than 200 breeding pairs left in the country, compared to around 5,000-plus in the 1970s. the decline is being blamed on the loss of the birds’ habitat in marshy areas, due to tree-planting, commercial turf-cutting and the development of wind farms. Twenty years ago, there were 60 sites where breeding curlews were identified. The UCC survey identified only six.

Birdwatch Ireland has identified several areas where the curlew population can be nurtured back to acceptable numbers and will be working closely with farmers to secure that aim. If the project is not successful, we could be talking about a lament for the curlew rather than the cry of the curlew, a globally-threatened species. The red grouse, also a denizen of the moorland, has suffered the same fate as the grouse and for much the same reasons — down about 50% in numbers in 30 years.

However, cooperation between a local gun club, hill sheep farmers and wildlife groups is beginning to bear fruit in a small part of Co Leitrim. A survey of the Boleybrack Red Grouse Project counted at least 85 grouse on Boleybrack mountain this autumn, compared to only three calling grouse males in 2007.

The good news is largely credited to a partnership between Glenfarne Gun Club, the National Association of Regional Game Councils (NARGC), the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), the Golden Eagle Trust, Coillte and local sheep farmers.

Earlier this year a full-time grouse gamekeeper was employed. There’s active heather management in the area and breeding grouse are protected from fox and crow predation. There’s also controlled gorse burning.