Curlews

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Telling the Right Stories: Curlews, Farming, Shakespeare and Us 

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For much of my life, I have been circling the story of the Curlew, trying, and often failing, to find words large enough for it. Science has always mattered to me. Of course it has. We need evidence, data, hard-won observation; we need to know where Curlews still breed, why chicks fail, how water moves through fields, how insects vanish, how policies land on real […]

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Curlews, Rewilding and Finding Common Ground 

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Based on a article in British Wildlife, July 2026  Curlews sit at the heart of one of the most important conservation debates of our time – how do we restore nature while also protecting the species that depend on the landscapes we have created?  Rewilding has brought huge energy, imagination and ambition to conservation. It asks us to think beyond small fragments of protected

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Nature Education Should Unite Us, Not Divide Us 

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Most people have welcomed the forthcoming GCSE in Natural History, but there are critics, most notably Mya-Rose Craig. The issue is not nature education in principle, but inequalities in access to nature and the need to address existing social and racial disparities within the environmental sector. Mya-Rose argues that, unless these barriers are addressed, the GCSE could benefit those who

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Royal Recognition

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by Graham Appleton Everyone associated with Curlew Action, or the wider world of curlew conservation for that matter, will be delighted to learn that Mary Colwell has been awarded an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List. Although officially a recognition that she is now a ‘Member of the Order of the British Empire’, wouldn’t it be great

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Curlews and the Conservation Dilemma We Need to Talk About 

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Conservation is becoming increasingly complex. Climate change, biodiversity loss, food production, renewable energy and land use all demand attention, yet the solutions to one problem can sometimes create challenges for another. It is one of the reasons I find Curlews so fascinating. They sit at the intersection of some of the greatest environmental challenges facing humanity and force

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Protecting Wading Birds in Farmed Landscapes in Southwest Scotland

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Southwest Scotland is one of those places where the challenges facing ground-nesting  waders become vividly clear. Curlew, Lapwing, Redshank, Snipe and Oystercatcher still breed across these rolling hills and farmed valleys, but their future depends on navigating a web of farming practices, land management, predation, forestry, wind farms and economic pressures. Here, many competing demands are placed on

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The Future of Curlews – A Conversation with David Jarrett from the BTO 

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It was a pleasure to catch up with David Jarrett from the British Trust for Ornithology in Scotland and explore how his thinking has evolved since we last met more than two years ago. David combines scientific rigour with a genuine passion for Scotland’s uplands and wader populations. Thoughtful, analytical and always open to debate, he is helping to

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Curlews & Rewilding

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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

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A Visit to Insh Marshes 

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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,

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Parliamentary Briefing on the UK Curlew Action Plan 

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Parliamentary Briefing on the UK Curlew Action Plan    On 25 March 2026, we took part in a parliamentary briefing on the UK Curlew Action Plan, hosted and chaired by Chris Hinchliff, MP (North East Hertfordshire). Chris is emerging as a strong and thoughtful voice for nature restoration and has consistently supported calls for stronger protective legislation and shown a clear commitment to addressing the biodiversity crisis. He

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The joke that isn’t a joke: gender bias in fieldwork and the moments that give it away

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The joke that isn’t a joke: gender bias in fieldwork and the moments that give it away  by Mary Colwell, Prof Jenny Gill  Goethe famously said (I’m paraphrasing), “Show me what you laugh at, and I’ll tell you who you are”. A ‘joke’ is usually where the truth slips out, because many a true word is spoken in jest.  Recently, a moment in elite sport did exactly

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The Value of Volunteering

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The value of volunteering to both the recipient organisation and the individual really can’t be underestimated and this is particularly true in conservation. I can say this with confidence having been volunteering for over three years now for the RSPB,  BTO and now Curlew Action. The benefits can be enormous. For example the RSPB enjoys

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Curlew Conservation and the Bard

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Over the weekend of 6–8 February, we held the second in-person European Curlew Fieldworker Workshop at Lancaster University in the north-west of England. This is Curlew Action’s flagship event, bringing together curlew conservationists, scientists, artists, educators, musicians and others from across Europe to share ideas and inspire one another. It is our contribution to a positive outcome for

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The Bird with No Story

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By Mary Colwell – AEWA MOP, 11 November 2025 On 10 October 2025 the Slender-billed Curlew was declared extinct by the IUCN. It still feels raw to say the deadening finality of that word, extinct. This delicate, long-billed wader, once a part of the wildlife community of Asia/Africa/Europe has gone.   A life once woven

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