Raising a Global Voice for Curlews!
World Curlew Day – 21 April
Every year on 21 April, people around the world come together to celebrate and protect the Curlew.
Founded by Mary Colwell in 2017, World Curlew Day is for everyone. You don’t need to be a scientist to take part — your voice matters. Write a poem, bake a Curlew cake, sing a song, lead a walk, paint a picture, or simply share the Curlew’s story with friends. Every action helps raise awareness of these wonderful birds and inspires others to care.
World Curlew Day is our chance to shout from the rooftops about Curlews — and we’d love you to join in!
World Curlew Day 2026
A Special Anniversary
This year is a special milestone — ten years since our founder, Mary Colwell, walked 500 miles across Ireland, Wales and England to uncover why Curlew numbers are in steep decline. That journey led to her book Curlew Moon — and, ultimately, to the creation of this charity.
In 2026 we’re planning something special — a sponsored Curlew Walk in Yorkshire, followed by tea, cake, and some very special guests. It will be a chance to celebrate Curlews, raise awareness, and enjoy time together. And the best part? Everyone can take part, wherever you are. We’ll share more details as soon as our plans are confirmed.
2025 Highlights
Curlew Mural in Stroud
To mark the 2025 World Curlew Day, we brought the beauty of the Eurasian Curlew to the streets of Stroud with a stunning mural created by ATM Street Art. It shows a Curlew with its chick in a wildflower meadow, and features a soil profile to highlight how everything is interrelated – soil, invertebrates, flowers and birds.
The mural celebrates Curlews while raising awareness of the urgent conservation work needed to protect them in Gloucestershire and beyond.
To bring this project to life, we launched a Crowdfunder, to which you can still contribute.
Lansdown Hall – 21 April
Alongside the Stroud mural, we hosted an afternoon of talks and activities on Easter Monday, April 21, at Lansdown Hall.
Wild Life Drawing Online Class – 23 April
On 23 April, we joined up with Wild Life Drawing to co-host a wholesome evening of Curlews and art. Our Director, Mary, gave a talk about Curlews before attendees learned how to draw Curlews and listened to Curlew music.
2024 Highlights
On the weekend of World Curlew Day, we held two events in northern England. On Saturday 20th April, we had a two-part event in Farndale, with a three-hour walk on the North Yorkshire Moors to see Curlews in their habitat, followed by an intimate evening event at the famous The Band Room with David Gray and Mary Colwell.
On World Curlew Day itself, we held another evening event at the Alnwick Playhouse, hosted by the Duke of Northumberland.
And as usual, we had our World Curlew Day competition! This year, we added a new category: Curlew bake-off!
2023 Highlights
2023 year was our biggest World Curlew Day to date! Curlew Action held four events:
- An evening of music and conversation with Mary Colwell and David Gray in Bristol
- Webinar: 'Curlews in myths and legends'
- New Forest nature walk, in partnership with Leica Sports Optics and Wild New Forest
- An evening of music and conversation with Mary Colwell and David Gray in Beaulieu, New Forest
See some of the entries to our World Curlew Day art & poetry competition below!
'Curlews'
Over 16 poetry winner, Clare Donnison, read by Mary Colwell
'I still go on'
Under 16 poetry winner, Findlay List, read by Mary Colwell
Why the 21st of April?
St Beuno is the patron saint of Curlews, the charming story of how and why he blessed the Curlew can be found on our 'Curlews and Culture' page. St Beuno's feast day is the 21st of April! It is also the day that our founder, Mary Colwell, began her 500 mile walk for Curlews in 2016 - read her book Curlew Moon to hear all about it.
How can I get involved?
Hold a talk, organise a Curlew walk, have a Curlew coffee morning, hold a Curlew-themed art show, create a Curlew song or dance, hold a Curlew-themed poetry evening, draw a Curlew picture, have a Curlew Day at a local school, hold a ‘Curlew conversation’ and record people’s memories of when Curlew were common… Any money raised can go towards local or national Curlew projects. Thank you for supporting World Curlew Day.
World Curlew Day is the perfect opportunity to get involved with Curlew Action, raising both funds and awareness for the plight of the Curlew. To find out more, visit our Support Us page.
There are plenty of ways to help raise awareness for the Curlew, including hosting an event, creating flyers to distribute locally, or even making a sign warning walkers to keep dogs on leads around Curlew nests.
If you want to fundraise for us, you could take part in a sponsored walk or run, or perhaps organise a gala evening with fun fundraising activities and a Curlew theme. We've got lots of ideas, tips and resources over on our Fundraising page.
As always, we will be organising lots of activities for World Curlew Day (including our famous art, poetry and baking competition), so keep an eye out for more news throughout our website, social media, emails and newsletters.
World Curlew Day 2022
World Curlew Day 2021
We celebrated World Curlew Day 2021 with a series of art and poetry competitions for children and adults, which were all a huge success.
You can see some of the visual artwork in the gallery on this page. As you can imagine, it was nearly impossible to choose winners since we received such amazing pieces!
We were also inspired by the extraordinary poetry created by competition entrants. Winners got to have their poems recorded by David Gray and Brian Briggs of Stornoway. Have a listen to some of this work below.
Curlews (1983 - ) by Paula-Knight, read by David Gray
Curlews by Robin Hargreeves, read by David Gray
Lost (after Rabindranath Tagore) by Sarah-Howden, read by David Gray
