The Curlew’s plight. Here’s her story
“A Curlew’s lingering threadbare cry,” wrote the Irish poet Thomas Kinsella. This yearning is used time and again in modern Celtic stories. Laura Smith, in her book Memories of a Curlew, a novel about the Norman invasion of Wales, wrote to me that: “The Curlew is used as a metaphor throughout the novel, for the pain and anguish experienced at that time. Many people these days do not understand the sheer dreadfulness of the Norman invasion.” Others, though, have found joy in the call of the Curlew; a sound that couldn’t be further from pain and grief. It heralds spring, with all its optimism and excitement and the promise of new life. “Through throats where many rivers meet,” is how Dylan Thomas heard it. And for Lord Grey “The notes do not sound passionate they suggest peace, rest, healing joy, an assurance of happiness past, present and to come”. Geoff Sample, the eminent wildlife sound recordist, described the call of the Curlew as, “such a force for life, not death”. No matter how we hear the Curlew’s call over mud, mountain and meadow, either as a wistful sigh or a joyful refrain, we must do what we can to nurture numbers back to health. The UK holds 25% of the breeding population of the Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata,making us internationally important guardians of this bird of the wilderness. Although there are about 68,000 breeding pairs in the UK, that number is not as healthy as it sounds. Breeding success is very low, in many areas there are no young fledging at all due to cutting for silage, predation or trampling by livestock. We are seeing an ageing population unable to reproduce in significant numbers, which can only lead to one conclusion. If we don’t act we will be guilty of a dereliction of duty of care for a very special bird. But more than that, we will lose a precious part of our spiritual, cultural and biological heritage. Let us not lose the “call of the wild.” The large, graceful, absurdly long-billed Curlew is a beautiful bird, but really comes into its own when you hear it delivering its evocative bubbling song
I wanted to find places where Curlews are still doing well, and go to the areas where they are just a memory, thankfully still a living one