NATURE TABLE: The Curlew

Curlews are large, brown waders with a long, down-curved beak and a haunting call that sounds slightly like their name. 

Substantial numbers of them visit this country in winter which tends to conceal the fact that as an Irish breeding bird they are extremely vulnerable. Between 1988 and 1991 an estimated 5,000 pairs bred here. In 2011 60 of their breeding sites were re-surveyed. Only six held nesting pairs and the Irish breeding population is now estimated at below 200, a catastrophic decline of 96%.

The reason seems to be changes in their breeding habitat — industrial exploitation of raised bogs and forestry and changing agricultural practice on blanket bogs — making them more vulnerable to nest predators such as ravens and foxes. Conservation organisations now manage a number of reserves for them and cutaway raised bogs that are no longer used for peat production may provide new nesting sites. If not an iconic Irish bird may only survive as a winter visitor.