Partnership announced to help farmers boost Curlew numbers

Curlew numbers have been declining
Curlew numbers have been declining

A partnership which will help farmers and landowners help with a declining farmland bird has been announced.

Curlew Country and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) will team up in a bid to reverse the decline of the wading bird.

The new partnership will offer the best available advice on curlews to farmers, gamekeepers and others wanting to help these birds.

The 500 people from across the UK that provided their Curlew nest locations to the GWCT’s Action for Curlew will receive ongoing updates on developments.

It follows news that British bird numbers have declined around farmland by almost a tenth, according to new figures released by Defra.

But farmers have been taken part in numerous initiatives to help farmland wildlife and habitats, including a hedge-laying project in Surrey and a farmland bird initiative in the Avon Valley.

Curlew Country project manager Amanda Perkins said: “When we started in 2014, we listened to farmers in the Shropshire Hills and Welsh Borders and work closely with them in the race against time to save curlew. GWCT is leading the way in work with farmer clusters delivering wildlife improvements on farmland.”

Commenting on the partnership, GWCT Welsh Chairman, Nick Williams, said: "Curlew Country is a working example of exactly how we feel conservationists should support farmers in protecting the wildlife that they want. This is why the GWCT set up Action for Curlew earlier this year - to help those on the ground.”