A curlew that has been incubated as an egg and reared in its local
landscape – a process known as headstarting – has successfully returned
home for the first time.
The bird is one of six chicks reared as part of the UK Lowland Curlew
Recovery Project, better known as Curlew Country, in 2017 – another UK first
- and is already displaying breeding behaviour.
The Curlew Country project, hosted by conservation charity the Game &
Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), hopes that this historic occasion is the
first of many. Project manager, Amanda Perkins, said: “Seeing the
result of all our hard work – not just the project team, but farmers,
landowners, fundraisers and the local community – is a proud moment, but
we must make sure it isn’t wasted. Now we have shown that this process can
work, we need a policy that allows those managing the land to give all curlew
a fighting chance.”
The situation for curlew is critical, with a 46% decline across the UK from
1994 to 2010. Curlew was added to the UK red list in December 2015, and it
is argued to be the bird of greatest conservation concern within the UK.
This vital project started in 2017, following a successful application to
Natural England for a licence to collect eggs from nests. In 2017 and 2018,
Curlew Country successfully released 27 chicks using this methodology,
which was a 207% increase in productivity of nests that the team studied in
the previous two years.
The significant population of up to 40 pairs of birds in the Shropshire Hills
is one of only a few lowland populations of this size remaining outside nature
reserves. Working with farming and land managing partners, the project
discovered that no chicks survived from any of the 30 nests monitored in
2015 and 2016 (prior to headstarting) and each year only three nests got
beyond egg stage to hatch chicks. Predation was the main cause of loss,
with foxes responsible for over 50% and badgers just under 25%, with other
failure due to a range of causes.
Research has shown that controlling predators will be necessary to save
curlew, along with a more flexible approach to other practices such as cutting
and rolling, as well as the creation of ideal habitat.
It is important that the current generation of curlews and the farmers with
fond memories of them are not the last. Each week, the Curlew Country
project receives several requests from groups or individuals seeking advice
on curlew recovery.http://www.curlewcountry.orgA UK first for ground-breaking Shropshire curlew project
The British Game Alliance membership exceeds 500 shoots
The British Game Alliance (BGA) has hit a significant milestone, as
more than 500 shoots in the UK have now signed up as members.
The BGA was formed with the aim of increasing the demand
for, and the value of, British game meat. By setting up an
assurance scheme following a set of Shoot Standards, this
offers participating shoots an unrivalled opportunity to
demonstrate the beneficial impacts of the game industry from
not only an environmental perspective but also through
sustainability and traceability.
Since its launch just over a year ago, the BGA has seen
significant success; it has signed up over 500 shoots and 18 game
processors to its assurance scheme, developed two new markets for
game overseas, and has secured over 100 BGA-assured stockists in the
UK, reaching over 3,000 food outlets.
Sam Adams, shoot account manager at the BGA, said: “We are
delighted with the uptake in our first year of operation and cannot
thank our shoot members enough for supporting our objectives. The
BGA encourages shoots of all sizes to join to implement credible self-
regulation across the shooting industry, ensuring we abide by and
demonstrate our best practice, offering us political security for a
sustainable future for shooting.”http://www.britishgamealliance.co.ukNEWS
Visit the BGA’s
website for information
on how to sign up your
shoot, become a
BGA-assured supplier
or find stockists.A curlew from the headstarting project Curlew
Country has successfully returned homePICTURE:GEORGE GUNN PHOTOGRAPHY