April 21st is World Curlew Day and we celebrate the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata, or Crotach in Irish), an iconic Irish bird and a key species of our wetlands.
The Eurasian Curlew is red-listed in Ireland and is on the global IUCN red list.
Breeding Curlews’ dwindling populations are threatened by habitat loss. Sadly, the Irish Curlew breeding population has declined by 98% since the 1980s due to habitat loss as a result of changes in landscape and land use, including intensive farming, drainage, fragmentation, peat extraction and increased commercial forestry.
According to the 2023 NPWS Curlew Conservation Programme Report the population may have fallen to 105 pairs of breeding Curlew in Ireland.
The second national breeding survey shows that Curlew populations appear to be doing better locally in places where conservation measures are applied. National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine fund the Breeding Waders EIP conservation project. A recent conservation measure yielded a breakthrough in County Fermanagh where a “headstarted” Curlew released in Co. Leitrim in 2024 returned to establish a breeding territory in Sliabh Beagh, Co. Fermanagh, as reported today by RTÉ (https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2026/0421/1569263-curlew-conservation/)
Curlews are a ground-nesting bird, they winter in a wide range of Irish coastal and inland wetlands and can breed in floodplains and bogs. They require open, wet peatland areas to nest, and they depend on a wide range of wetland habitats including intact bogs, heaths, wet grasslands and extensive farmland, in order to breed successfully.
Communities including farmers and landowners can support restoration of Curlew breeding habitat in bogs and peatlands by such measures as blocking drains to support rewetting, fencing to exclude livestock from Curlew breeding sites in order to protect their nests, and rewetting cutaway bog which restores their supporting habitat. Community education activities and raising awareness among local communities including school children can help contribute to positive change.
Several of the Community Wetlands Forum member groups are actively taking measures to protect, restore and support the Curlew habitats in wetlands across Ireland.
Curlews are an indicator species for healthy wetlands. The call of the Curlew is often described as the most iconic sound of Irish bogs. When we as communities contribute to restoring our wetlands we are also helping restore habitat for this much-loved and very threatened Irish bird. May we hear the call of the Curlew more and more often! Everyone can make a difference, and when we come together as communities our actions can bring increasing positive change. If not us, then who? If not now, when?
