The document discusses the decline of the curlew population in the UK. It notes that the UK population has declined by nearly half in the last 20 years, with a loss of 5,500 birds per year. Various factors are contributing to this decline, including loss of habitat due to agriculture, forestry, and increasing urbanization. Larger farm sizes and more intensive farming practices are also negatively impacting curlew populations. Two poems are included that express the beauty of the curlew call but also the loss that would come from their disappearance.

1. SAVING THE NEW MOON BIRD
500 miles for curlews

2. Andrew Fusak
Peters

3. NUMENIUS ARQUATA
THE NEW MOON BIRD
Numenius arquata

6. W B YEATS
O curlew cry no more to the air,
Or only to the water in the West;
Because your crying brings to my mind
Passion-dimmed eyes and long heavy hair
That was shaken out over my breast.
There is enough evil in the crying of the
wind.

8. ‘CURLEW’
Norman McCaig
Music as desolate, as
beautiful
As your loved places,
Mountainy marshes
and glistening
mudflats
By the stealthy sea

10. EDWARD GREY
Of all bird songs or sounds known to me there
is none that I would prefer than the spring
notes of the Curlew…The notes do not sound
passionate they suggests peace, rest, healing
joy, an assurance of happiness past, present
and to come. To listen to Curlews on a bright,
clear April day, with the fullness of spring still in
anticipation, is one of the best experiences that
a lover of birds can have

13. Andrew Fusak Peters

14. THE UK HAS LOST NEARLY HALF ITS
BREEDING CURLEW IN 20 YEARS
119,000 birds
5,500 birds/year

15. KNOWN LOSSES THROUGHOUT UK AND
IRELAND
5000
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
S Ireland N Ireland Wales S England
Numbers since 1980s

22. 99% loss of raised bog

24. AGRICULTURE

25. MACHINERY

27. SIZE OF FARMS
• In 2016, over half of UK agricultural output
was produced by just 7% of farms - using on
30% of farmland.
• Farms are getting bigger and more intensive

31. CARRION CROW

32. UK FOX POPULATION

33. FORESTRY
Increase in tree cover from 13%-19% by 2050

34. POPULATION
The UK population is
predicted to increase by
14% to 75 million by 2050,
meaning the land used for
towns and cities could rise
from 8% to 12% and
increasing demands on
agriculture and energy.

35. Curlews impacted by wide range
of issues.

38. LOVE AND REVOLUTION
Alastair McIntosh
Have you heard the cry
of the curlew?
I tell you-
I would rather we lost
The entire contents
Of every art gallery
In the whole world
Thank lose
Forever
The cry of the curlew
LOVE AND REVOLUTION
Alastair McIntosh
Have you heard the cry of
the curlew?
I tell you-
I would rather we lost
The entire contents
Of every art gallery
In the whole world
Thank lose
Forever
The cry of the curlew

39. Thank you for coming