Just over 100 breeding pairs of curlew are now left in Ireland, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).
Today (Thursday, April 21) marks World Curlew Day which aims to raise awareness of the species and promote its conservation.
The department said that the population of breeding pairs has fallen by 97% since 1990.
Between 3,300-5,500 pairs are estimated to have bred in the Republic of Ireland in the late 1980s.
The ground-nesting bird mostly relies on camouflage and concealment for rearing its chicks.
However, due to issues such as habitat loss and predation the Irish population of the bird has significantly declined.
Large scale afforestation of breeding grounds which provides increased cover for predators and illegal and unmanaged fires also pose a major threat to the species.
Curlew protection
Population analysis shows that without any action being taken the curlew will go extinct as a breeding species in Ireland within 5 to 10 years as breeding productivity has been low.
Established in 2017, the Curlew Conservation Programme, which is coordinated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and DAFM, takes a locally-led approach to protecting the birds.
Central to the work of the project is the involvement of farmers and owners of land where Ireland’s last remaining curlew breed.
The work of the programme includes recording and tagging the birds and protecting nest sites.
Local teams work with stakeholders in nine geographical areas where the breeding pairs have been identified:
- Stack’s Mountains, Co. Kerry;
- Lough Corrib North, Co. Galway;
- Lough Ree, Roscommon/Westmeath;
- North Roscommon/Mayo;
- Mid-Leitrim;
- North Monaghan;
- Co. Donegal;
- Slieve Aughties, Clare/Galway;
- Laois-Kildare.
The populations of the areas where the programme has been active had remained relatively stable. However, last year there was a drop in the number of sites where breeding pairs were active in recent years.
The project noted that it was of “extreme concern” that five of the nine areas saw no chicks fledged in 2021.
The cold early spring weather last may have played a role in the decline in successful breeding. It was also noted that the birds at some sites were becoming too old to breed.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Pippa Hackett said on Twitter earlier that more needs to be done to protect “this iconic bird”.