Y Gylfinir … and other Welsh names for Curlew
Did you know that 21 April is World Curlew Day! Isn’t there a day for everything? Why then does y gylfinir deserve a special day’? As is frequently the case the standard Welsh term for the Curlew – y gylfinir – describes Britain’s largest wading bird perfectly: gylfin = bill, hir = long! It’s difficult […]
World Curlew Day judges
In 2024, we are being joined by three guest judges for our World Curlew Day Competition! Each guest judge will assist Mary Colwell in choosing the winning entries from a category. Meet the World Curlew Day judges: Head judge: Mary Colwell Mary is a writer, TV and radio producer and conservationist, whose massive walk across […]
What does the future hold for Farlington Marshes?
Farlington Marshes Nature Reserve sits within Langstone Harbour, down on the busy south coast of Hampshire. Managed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust since the 1960s, it forms one of the most important sites in the Solent for overwintering waders and wildfowl, as well as providing a very important role for local breeding […]
Revolutionary nature lovers
I am intrigued by Lucy McRobert’s article for the Birdwatch magazine, ‘Missed Connections‘ (18/01/24). She describes University Challenge panellists being baffled by even the simplest nature questions, and astonished they had never heard of wading birds. Some of the brightest in the land know nothing about the common life that lives around them. No wonder, […]
Some perspectives on the UK Curlew breeding season in 2023
As we say goodbye to 2023 it’s a good time to look back on the Eurasian Curlew breeding season and search for signs of optimism or despair! This summary is largely based upon results presented at the recent Curlew Forum meeting at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) Slimbridge Wetland Centre on 16 Nov 2023, […]
Building a Nature Pathway
We are increasingly coming round to the fact that the future of every one of us depends on a healthy natural world with functional and diverse ecosystems supporting our economy, health and well-being. This much is true, but are we succeeding in making that nature-secure future a reality? Is everyone aware of what this really […]
Wading bird scientists flock together at Sylt
People who love waders, like the birds themselves, flock together in the autumn at the annual conference of the International Wader Study Group (IWSG). The range of attendees mirrored the diversity of wading birds scattered across the mudflats surrounding the island of Sylt off the northern coast of Germany, where the meeting was held. I […]
Take part in Wader Conservation World Watch
This year will be the 10th Wader Conservation World Watch (WCWW) event. Every year on the first weekend in November, to celebrate the start of Rick and Elis Simpson’s quest for waders around the world in support of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper in 2012, Wader Quest (now a charity) holds an annual worldwide event. This event […]
What’s the link between mammoths and curlew diversity?
A recent scientific paper published in eLife suggest that the loss of huge mammals at the end of the last Ice Age, grazers such as Giant Elks and Woolly Mammoths, would have had a significant impact on the landscapes on which they had lived and on birds like curlews, which thrived on the open ground. […]
An update on the Natural History GCSE
It has been a while since we had an update on the progress of the GCSE in Natural History, so this is where we are. The Department for Education announced the new GCSE as part of their Climate Change and Sustainability programme, in April 2022. This initiative sets out a range of measures for schools […]