Photo: © The Trustees of NHM, London Visit to the Natural History Museum’s cetacean collection – London, 18th August 2026 A whale skeleton is both an object of science and the remains of a life, a truth that became powerfully clear as David Gray and I followed Richard Sabin, Principal Curator of Mammals at the […]
(Header photograph: Mary Colwell / All other photographs courtesy of Martin Hole) On a hot, dry, brown-brittle day in August, I visited Martin Hole of Montague Farm on the western edge of the Pevensey Levels in East Sussex. Over a coffee before a farm tour, we discussed farming for wildlife, and one phrase stayed with
Every Tool in the Box: Farming for Wildlife on the Pevensey Levels Read More »
Curlews and Rewilding Few subjects in modern conservation generate as much passionate discussion as rewilding. It is a conversation that matters because it asks fundamental questions about how we restore nature, how much we intervene, and what kind of landscapes we want to leave for future generations. Recently, I received thoughtful and challenging comments about Curlew conservation and
A Visit to Insh Marshes If I were a Curlew, I’d choose here – as many do, listening to the calls echoing all around. Standing on a viewing point above the western end of the RSPB’s Insh Marshes reserve, Thijs Claes, Estate Operations Manager, and Colin MacLennan, RSPB volunteer, described their hopes for this remarkable landscape. The western end of the RSPB Insh Marshes The wide floodplain stretched away on either side of us,
Curlews Between the Runways Munich Airport has to be one of the strangest places I have ever visited to look for Curlews. Situated northeast of Munich between the cities of Freising and Erding, the airport occupies what was once a vast lowland peatland landscape, now heavily altered by drainage, intensive agriculture, urbanisation and modern infrastructure.
Initial Reflections Robert Frost’s poem Mending Wall kept coming into my mind as we visited four more reserves for wading birds strung along the banks of the Danube and Isar. We had just left the affecting Wiesmet, described in the previous blog, and now stood on a rise overlooking the Stöcklwörth meadows and woodland, with
A group of us walked slowly through a field towards a dot marked on a map. We were so close but could see nothing. Was she still there? Then suddenly Jan pointed to a brown shape just a couple of metres away. Hidden, crouched low with her head and neck flattened to the ground, a
The Dümmer Special Protection Area (SPA) in Lower Saxony spans 12,000 acres and is one of the most important wetland landscapes for breeding waders in Germany and is heralded as the jewel in the crown for wader conservation. Here, we met Andrèas Barkow, project manager for the Life Godwit Flyway Project and Marcel Holly, head
Germany Field Visit 3 – Dümmer Lake, Lower Saxony Read More »
The area we visited in this large and heavily populated state in the west of German was once part of a vast peatland landscape stretching across the border between Germany and The Netherlands, (see the previous blog). Our base was the village of Zwillbrok on the Dutch border, guests of the Zwillbrock Biological Station. Thank you to everyone for being so kind and welcoming. It is difficult to imagine
In May 2026, Mary and Flo travelled to Germany and Austria to visit some of the country’s most important Curlew breeding landscapes and to meet the people working tirelessly to protect them. This trip is a continuation of Curlew Action’s outreach to our European colleagues, strengthening networks and information exchange across the continent and the
What the Hills Ask of Us Lee Schofield is an author, musician and conservationist. I will be interviewing him on Saturday evening as part of the European Curlew Fieldworker Workshop at Lancaster University (6–8 February). We will discuss his book, his valiant efforts to rewild an area of the Lake District, the personal cost of
French Curlews Statistics: Around 1,000 pairs across France but the larger populations are concentrated in two main areas: In the east – the Val de Saône (400 pairs) and in the northwest in Normandy (200 pairs). There are smaller populations in other regions. Almost all of them are in farmland. French Curlews mainly winter in
A visit to see the new 25 million euro EIP (European Innovation Partnership) project for ten species of breeding waders, which runs for five years from 2024 to 2028. This project builds on the previous excellent Curlew work which laid the groundwork for Curlew conservation in Ireland. This is turn came out of the All-Ireland
Curlew statistics: around 200 – 220 pairs are distributed through meadows alongside rivers, the majority in the east. The population has declined by 60% in the last 20 years with the main issues being agricultural operations like harrowing and silage cutting, and high levels of predation. Distribution of Curlews in Poland. Location In April 2024,
I recently watched Sir Gareth Southgate deliver his moving and emotionally intelligent 2025 Dimbleby lecture. Deliver is a good term, it was presented to us with care and thoughtfulness as though passing on something special. What an extraordinary leader he is. The main message is that young men are hurting, they are suffering from “lack
Over two days in early February, Curlew Action brought together projects from across England and Europe to discuss the increasingly hot topic of headstarting European Curlews. 100 people attended, which is a testament to how important people see this technique as essential to Curlew survival. Day 1 was dedicated to explaining the role of headstarting
After five years, Roger Morgan-Grenville is handing over the reins as Chair of the Trustees. A huge thank you from the team, of course, but also a personal message of gratitude from me for five years of friendship, fun and sharing burdens. Roger was there from the earliest days of Curlew Action, a stalwart and
Curlew Action is five years old on December 31st. Our founding mantra was expressed by the Senegalese environmentalist Baba Dioum in 1968: “We will conserve what we love; we will only love what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught.” Figure 1 Mary giving a talk for the conclusion of the
A paper published today, Monday 18th November, confirms the global extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris). A close relation of the Eurasian Curlew (N. arquata), the last reliable sighting of the Slender-billed Curlew was in Morocco in February 1995, despite dedicated searches by ornithologists. The new paper is a collaboration between scientists from the
This is the second of two blog posts about the IWSG conference, read the first post by Mike Smart. (opens in new tab) When do we reach the tipping point beyond which there is no option but to act with urgency, determination and vision? From the statistics we are already there, and have been for
