About Curlews

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This page contains general information about Curlews and their conservation, and will be expanded with further details soon. Check out our Resources page for additional information about survey and monitoring of breeding Curlews.

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• At 58,500 breeding pairs, the UK currently holds approximately a quarter of the global Eurasian Curlew population, with estimates for Wales ranging from 400 to 1700 pairs.

 

• However, national monitoring data, coordinated by BTO, show that this population has been in long-term decline since the 1970s and has almost halved in the UK over the last 20 years.

 

• In Wales the population is declining at a rate of about 6% per year, with many colonies on the verge of local extinction.

 

• Britain also supports some 125,000 wintering Curlew, numbers of which have declined by more than 25% in 25 years; many of these birds breed in continental Europe.

 

• As a result of Europe-wide population declines, Curlew is listed as vulnerable to extinction in Europe, and globally, is considered near threatened.