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.