European Curlew Fieldworker's Conference

Working for Waders’ Bruce Cooper and Patrick Laurie at the curlew conference in King’s Lynn, Norfolk - 9/2/24

Working for Waders was well represented at the European Curlew Fieldworker’s Conference in King’s Lynn last weekend. Bruce Cooper and Patrick Laurie were in attendance for the three day event which saw a hundred curlew conservationists coming together from across Europe to share experiences and learning on wader conservation. As well as strong contingents from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, delegates also came from Finland, Poland, Germany, Holland and France.

A wide range of presentations at the conference covered everything from grassland management and bioacoustic monitoring to detailed conversations about predator control and nest camera work. While it was clear that curlews are struggling across much of their range, different landscapes have called for a wide range of responses and reactions. High intensity dairy production in Holland has driven many curlew populations to the brink of extinction, while in Ireland the threat of commercial forestry looms large on the horizon. It was useful to get a broad diversity of information on curlew declines, but it was also clear that there is no “one size fits all” solution to the problem.

Nest protection fences have been extremely valuable in mainland Europe, and it’s clear that conservationists are getting better at using electric energisers and nets to defend curlew eggs from predators. There has not been much work on nest fencing in Scotland so far, but this may be a tool to explore in coming years. Importantly, there was fairly unanimous recognition of the importance of predator control as a tool to support curlew breeding productivity. Predator control has often seemed like a thorny issue in the past, but it’s clear that consensus is developing around this crucial approach.

There was also a great deal of interest in fieldwork methods to accurately and quickly assess curlew populations to prioritise action for the birds. The conference placed a specific focus on fieldwork and data-collection, but it was also important to ensure that these issues remained anchored to proactive conservation work and government policy.

On the second night of the conference, campaigner Mary Colwell hosted a discussion with the singer David Gray, talking about a range of conservation issues and the signal importance of curlews as an access-point to nature. David Gray is deeply attached to curlews, and he provided a unique take on the birds and their role in raising awareness of biodiversity collapse. The next day, delegates travelled to nearby Snettisham to see an incredible dawn display of waders on the edge of the Wash. The 2024 breeding season is now looming large on the horizon, and the hope is that having met so many like-minded people working so hard for curlews across Europe, we can now deliver the goods more effectively and with greater enthusiasm for waders in Scotland.