In recognition of the dramatic decrease in breeding Curlew in Ireland, formerly a stronghold of the breeding population of northwestern Europe, a first-ever one-day all-Ireland Conference on Curlews was held at Higginstown on 4 November 2016, entitled “Curlews in Crisis”. The 100 participants included officials of the government National Parks and Wildlife Service, interested landowners, representatives of Bord na Mona (the government Peat Board), staff of Birdwatch Ireland, birdwatchers and a variety of other interests. One of the outcomes was the creation of a national Curlew Task Force, under government auspices, which will aim to halt and reverse the dramatic decrease, thought to be caused largely by habitat change, and in particular transformation of traditional peat bogs.

CURLEWS IN CRISIS – draft actions identified jointly as part of a stakeholder workshop – 4th November 2016 (PDF).

Curlew GPS tracking 2016: presentation by Dr Rachel Taylor, Senior Ecologist BTO Cymru (PDF)
Photos © Dr Rachel Taylor. Data tracking images © BTO. Data from 2016 are now under full analysis, and funding is being sought for a full-scale rerun of the project in 2018.

Report of the Curlew Task Force – March 2017

Report of the Curlew Task Force – June 2017

Report of the Curlew Task Force – March 2018

Also see this news page on this website, which has further update information from 2019 and 2020.

Irish Curlew Conference, Higginstown 2016