Curlew country not Curlew farming!

Nidderdale Moorland Group

We have been accused in the past of Curlew farming due to the success we have on our managed moorlands with the nesting and fledging of these red listed and endangered upland breeding waders. But if you take a look back in time, not long ago the Curlew was traditionally known as breeding bird of our uplands in spring and summer and not of lowland areas.

The Curlew prospered in Britain during the early twentieth century and started to expand its territory into lowland areas.

Although traditionally known as an upland breeding wader, this spread to lowland areas began around the from 1920s.

This spread to low ground areas, including Wiltshire, Sussex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, continued until the 1950s when it slowed.

Today there is an almost obsession with Curlew recovery in lowland areas, but as history shows, these are areas with only a short history of Curlew breeding.

Today the Curlew has ceased to breed or is in decline in many of these areas, but it can still thrive in its traditional upland areas of moorland and moorland edge farmland where the effective predation and habitat management conducted by our upland estates and gamekeepers is continuing to help retain a successful breeding population that can crucially raise chicks to fledging age.

It's great to see the springs chicks out and about foraging on the moorlands and upland pastures, with some chicks now approaching 3-4 weeks old and well on their way to fledging at around 6 weeks of age.