A close call
HOW exciting to hear the evocative burbling of the enigmatic curlew deep in the West Sussex countryside and to see this year’s cohort of juveniles skulking within a backdrop of pink mallow instead of purple heather.
I am at the Arundel estate to meet the Duke of Norfolk, Andrew Hoodless—the new head of research for the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT)—and the Duke’s headkeeper, Charlie Mellor, to learn about this pioneering landowner’s project to reintroduce the Eurasian curlew back to the South Downs as a breeding bird.
Curlews are in serious trouble in the UK: populations of these prehistoric-looking birds, with their long legs and curved bills, have plummeted by 65% since 1970 and worrying declines are being detected in their upland strongholds, notably on inbye fields. In southern England (south of Birmingham), there may be fewer than 250 pairs (‘Is it too late for).
