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.”
That is Curlew Action in a nutshell.
We exist to help conserve Curlews, the wildlife that lives alongside them and the landscapes they depend upon. We do that through raising awareness, advocacy and networking, and, crucially, by telling the Curlews’ story it all its emotional complexity. Included in that narrative are science and conservation, which are vital threads.
Stories are data with a soul, said Brené Brown, and that too could be a founding doctrine of Curlew Action, because well-told stories form a link between the soul and the mind. Without that connection, nature is cold and distant, a mere backdrop rather than woven through our lives.
Intricately related to conservation is our campaign for nature education for everyone, no matter who they are, where they live or their cultural or ethnic background. We believe that no efforts to conserve the natural world will survive in the long-term without a nature-literate society to make wise decisions and who will wholeheartedly support the changes that must be made. For Curlew Action, conservation and education are interlinked, like the strands of DNA.
Over the last five years we have stayed true to that mission. We have helped make Curlews one of the most talked about birds in Britain, and we work collaboratively with other organisations to spread the word far and wide.
We use various outreach channels to engage with the non-specialist public, as not everyone owns land or has practical skills. We believe every single person can do something to help no matter how big or small.
We forge networks of Curlew conservationists across the UK and Europe, because the Eurasian Curlew is a European bird that relies on collaboration and cooperation to protect its entire migration route.
And we are not stopping at Europe. Our Curlews are part of a larger group, all of which are under threat (Long-billed, Far Eastern, Bristle-thighed, Little Curlew and Eurasian/Hudsonian Whimbrels*), and we are organising a world symposium to discuss the global issues all Curlews face. Through the lens of the world’s curlews, we will spotlight some of the greatest environmental threats facing all wildlife, namely intensive agriculture, loss of coastal and inland habitats, unsustainable levels of predation, excessive hunting, insensitive plantation forestry, deforestation, disturbance and climate change.
In the year when the Slender-billed Curlew was declared extinct, this is a timely and vital meeting to remind the world that this cannot and must not happen again. In the last 50 years, two species of curlew have slipped away, the remaining five-six* need our help.
*The Hudsonian Whimbrel was previously separated from the Eurasian Whimbrel as a separate species, but this may be changed again to be considered a subspecies.
World Curlew Day
World Curlew Day is on 21st April and is a special marker in the calendar, a day to celebrate the magic and get everyone involved, no matter what their age or background. We hold an annual poetry and art competition, which is always inspiring and a highlight of the year for me, and we have introduced a Curlew baking challenge.
Our wonderful patron and ambassador, David Gray, is a constant source of support. Over the last few years we have held some very special musical evenings, drawing people to nature who might not otherwise come to a conservation event.
We have made a new film with David that will be launched in early 2025. Here's a little teaser:
David is on tour in 2025 and will be fundraising for us and others, so please go to see the show, it will be a great experience.
Policy and advocacy
Curlew Action also engages in advocacy for the right agricultural policy through the new ELM to protect Curlews nesting on farmland. I am chair of the Curlew Recovery Partnership England, a roundtable of environmental organisations that was seed-funded by DEFRA with the specific aim of restoring Curlew populations in England. Getting the right agri-environment schemes in place is essential for landscape scale change, and get the schemes right for Curlews and a broad range of other species and habitats also benefit.
Education
We promote a greater understanding of the natural world through webinars, podcasts, blogs, articles, talks, workshops, social media and interviews, and invite everyone to take part in the discussions and suggest solutions. And of course, we campaign for a GCSE in Natural History, putting nature education into the heart of schools. You can see the latest Guardian article on where we are here. The fight goes on.
Conservation of all wildlife will depend on society loving and protecting the natural world. Without an informed and caring society nature will be at the whim of changing governments and authorities whose agendas most likely won’t have nature at the centre of their thinking. Decisions will be swayed by social and mainstream media, clickbait and those who shout the loudest, and those are never the best ways to draw the right conclusions.
The truest, wisest decisions come from a heart that yearns for truth, peace and justice for all of life, from a commitment to the common good, they do not emerge from a desire for dominance, constant growth at any cost, intolerance and ignorance. To truly live well in a world that values all life requires a deep understanding of, and appreciation for, the natural world.
In November 2023, we held a unique meeting in the Central Hall in Westminster where we gathered representatives from industry, business and policy to discuss nature education in the workplace. A GCSE alone is not enough, it needs to lead to employment, and indeed a recent report shows how large a skills gap there is. The growing need for nature-literate employees is outstripping supply. Please see an illuminating and urgent article on this here. It contains some startling statistics:
"In the United Kingdom, where demand for green talent grew a staggering 46% between 2023 and 2024 (while supply increased by 5.3%), the hiring rate for green talent is 72% greater than the hiring rate for talent overall”
Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta says:
"The GCSE in Natural History, which is being spearheaded by Mary Colwell and Curlew Action, offers the opportunity to engage all young people in the wonder that is the natural world, regardless of where they live or their background. Embedding the study of nature into the heart of education ensures access for everyone. This is vital as the future of all of us depends on informed citizens who can make the right decisions for the future of all of life on earth, ourselves included. We depend on nature for our health, well-being and creative lives, and for a thriving green economy; the GCSE is one step towards making this future a reality."
The Future
As we move into 2025, we face an increasingly unstable and warming planet. Fear and uncertainty are palpable across the world as a direct response to unpredictability. We see that fear translated into a lurch towards extreme governments who promise easy certainty and glib answers. These usually involve exclusive and protectionist ideology, and nowhere does the natural world take priority, in fact, it is barely mentioned in the global discourse. As a result, we are witnessing an acceleration of the loss of life across the Earth, so much so that populations of wildlife have declined by a staggering 73 per cent in the last 50 years.
All of this at a time when people are more removed from nature than at any other time in history. The majority of humanity is disconnected from the living, breathing, singing planet we live on and depend upon. Until we re-connect in a meaningful way with the natural world, we will not turn around this march to ecosystem collapse. It sounds dramatic, but it is true, and there is no point in hiding from the bald facts of what is happening.
Despair is not an option. To give in to hopelessness is to abandon the very spirit of being human. Any actions we can do will add to the goodness in the world, and goodness laid in the light spreads hope and courage. No one can change the world alone, but we can all use our innate capacity for love to make a difference wherever we find ourselves, and those individual acts add up to be greater than the sum of the parts.
Acts of kindness seed more goodness - we know this to be true. William Blake believed that only individual acts of meaning make a difference, over-arching statements and generalities are easy to make, but they change nothing. We make a difference through attention to the details of the day-to-day, by getting up on Monday and working for a better world:
“He who would do good to another, must do it in minute particulars. General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer.”
Quotes can be overused, but some I keep close, the Blake one above is a good example. The other is by my wild hero, John Muir:
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
Everything is interrelated and inter-dependent. Curlew Action has chosen the Curlew as the focus for creating change. A cherished, lyrical bird of mudflat, field and moor inspires us to do what we can to increase a love for all of life on earth, but it matters not what you choose. Pick something to love and just love it. Love it with all your heart and soul and do whatever is in your power to protect it. That means accepting that love never comes alone, it always demands of us – self-sacrifice, commitment, grit, a determination to stand up and be counted, often in the face of disinterest, even hostility. Sometimes it will be a lonely road, but if you do love, you will be amazed who comes to stand by your side.
Our first two events of the new year are the webinar of Predators and Curlew (22 January) and the Online European Headstarting Workshop (7-8 February) - a vital meeting for anyone interested in the use of headstarting to save Curlews, where we will look at the pros and cons, and everything you have to consider if you are thinking of getting involved.
Everyone at Curlew Action wishes you a Happy Christmas and a turning of fortunes for Planet Earth in 20205. Thank you for being part of our journey, we appreciate your support as we move forwards together.