Poland – Curlew Action

Image shows a Curlew chick being held with a tractor in the background

A Continental Concern: 2024 European Curlew Breeding Season Update

Curlew chick (Photo by WWT) On November 13th, 2024, Curlew Action hosted a free webinar bringing together conservationists, researchers, and curlew advocates from over 15 European countries. Chaired by Mike Smart, former Curlew Action trustee and long-time champion of wader conservation, the event provided a sobering yet hopeful snapshot of the Eurasian Curlew’s breeding […]

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A nest of four Curlew eggs amongst grass.

Poland Trip Report 2025

By Mary Colwell

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,

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A photo of a Curlew amongst grass and wildflowers.

Polish Curlews with “UK wintering visa”

By Przemek Obłoza

The Curlew conservation project in Poland was launched in 2013 and continues to this day. The reason for its initiation was the dramatic decline in the population. Over the course of two to three decades, the number of Curlews declined by more than half, from around 650-700 breeding pairs (before 2000) to approximately 250-300 (2008-2012).

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A photo of a Eurasian Curlew walking through water, with mud and water dripping from its long, curved bill

Colour-ringed Curlews on the Usk estuary

By Mike Smart

Curlew expert and Curlew Action trustee Mike Smart shares an update on colour-ringed Curlew sightings from his local patch on the Usk, how colour-ringing is helping ornithologists to understand Curlew movements, and requests sightings and photographs of colour-ringed Curlews on the Usk. Current status of Eurasian Curlew A British Birds article in 2015 [PDF available via

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Photo of a ringed Eurasian Curlew feeding in grassland

Curlew conservation in Poland

By Mike Smart

This is the second of two blog posts on Curlew Action’s visit to Poland, read Mary’s reflections in this blog post. The first link with Polish Curlew workers was established when a Curlew colour-ringed on the Usk estuary in Wales in January 2016 was resighted in Poland from 19 to 26 April 2018 in one

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A photo of a river with blue skies above and grassland to the side

Reflections on Polish Curlews

By Mary Colwell

This is the first of two blog posts on Curlew Action’s visit to Poland. Read Mike Smart’s blog post. A warm wind blew across a very large field in Eastern Poland, it was mid-April and uncharacteristically mild. In the distance a farmer ploughed one small area, his engine a grating background to the music of

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