Hi - I'm Cathy the Curlew. Thanks for visiting my Just Giving Page.

Having completed a number of challenges as a Giant Curlew, I continue to work for Curlew in Nidderdale and beyond.

The money I raise here will go to Curlew Action.

But when we act for Curlew, it's likely we are also helping Lapwing, Redshank, Golden Plover, or Snipe

But the impact goes further. Entire ecosystems benefit by providing Curlew with the conditions they need to thrive.

And still, it’s more than that.

Curlews are so integral to our culture, and to the richness of life on earth, that without them we lose a part of our soul.

Nature writer Mark Cocker writes:

“One of the things that environmentalists have not been willing to contemplate is the extent to which each biological deficit inflicted by species loss carries a cultural toll.

We are robbed of our life companions, sure; but we also forego all that curlews have inspired within us - by way of story, poetry, music, dance, and so on.

Biological loss is cultural loss…”

Many of us can recall the special moments when a curlew has cast its spell over us.

……………………………………..

It seems unthinkable that at the last count there are only 2,500 Welsh pairs remaining — a breeding population so low that it is considered likely they will disappear in less than a decade.

In Ireland, it’s even more desperate - 97% of the breeding population has already been lost since the 1980s. The most recent survey found that only 123 pairs remained – probably less than a100 pairs remain today.

The UK once held well over 100,000 pairs of breeding Curlew.

By the late 1980s this number had already fallen to around 75,000, and today we’re down to about 58,500. That’s a loss of more than 16,000 pairs over the last 35 years.

There remains in the UK, roughly, a quarter of total population of breeding Eurasian curlew in the entire world.

But throughout the UK Curlews are increasingly referred to in the past tense – People talk of “former strongholds”.

It is estimated that there are now less than 250 pairs in England, south of Birmingham.

The natural population on Dartmoor was reduced to just one or two breeding pairs – and a single breeding curlew was recorded on Exmoor in 2024.

When we get down to ones and twos, we can talk about functional local extinction. People suddenly start taking drastic action to save “the last curlew”. The only hope at this stage is reintroduction. These are costly programmes, and are no silver bullet.

What about the North of the UK?

The Protected Landscapes of Northumberland, the Northern Pennines, the Yorkshire Dales, Nidderdale and the Forest of Bowland are England’s curlew heartland.

Together, they form one of largest contiguous Curlew landscapes in Europe.

It is estimated that these protected landscapes host around one in six of all UK breeding curlews – Something like 60% of all English Curlew. That’s about 10,000 Breeding Pairs, making it one of the most important breeding sites for curlew on the planet.

But we also know that our curlew, especially those that habitually nest on farmland in these protected landscapes, often struggle to fledge chicks.

And when you speak to the older generation, they will tell you that numbers of farmland and moorland curlew were once far higher.

It seems important to me that we work hard to improve the health of this curlew heartland. That we do no take our remaining curlew for granted.

For those of us who work with curlew, every pair, every egg, every chick is important.

If you don’t manage land, then you can help curlew in a host of other ways – You might initiate a community-based project, to raise the profile of this special bird, making their plight impossible to ignore, and co-creating a curlew-friendly landscape, hand in hand with local farmers.

Volunteer contributions and passion are vital to most projects.

It was at an event to in late 2024, that I stated, “I will do my bit – by walking the Nidderdale Way, dressed as a Giant Curlew”.

Little did I know that Cathy the Curlew would take over my life for the next two years!

I was recently asked to write a letter, from the point of view of my alter ego.

The English word Curlew comes from the old French word for messenger (corliu) so this seemed quite appropriate.

I wrote:

“You’ve adopted me as a symbol of wild places… yet wild places are vanishingly rare.

I am in danger of becoming a story told by a grandparent, eyes shining as they recall being startled by my cry one April evening. As I fade from the sound scape, I fade from your heart space.

My call carries both sorrow and joy, helping you remember lost love and the glory of being alive.

You’ve tried to imitate me - but even the most gifted starlings fall short.

I’m here to wake you up - to tell you that without the richness of nature, the world becomes unbearably bland”.