Curlews, wading birds with long, curved bills, make their home in moorland in northern Britain in the summer months, and this forms a hugely important breeding habitat.

Farmers in Northumberland, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and County Durham to offer homes to nesting Eurasian curlews, which RSPB says could become extinct within a generation. The bird’s numbers have halved since the 1990s, the result of fewer fledglings making it to adulthood, with  agricultural intensification and increased predation from foxes and crows being implicated in the decline.

Despite the threat to the bird, RSPB claims some relatively simple steps from farmers could make a real difference.

Janet Fairclough, RSPB Conservation Advisor, provides specialist advice to farmers in the North Pennines about how they can help wildlife thrive alongside their agricultural businesses. She said, “Traditional hay meadows provide excellent habitat for nesting curlews. By shutting meadows up in the spring and putting off mowing them until July, farmers can give curlews enough time to nest and raise their chicks.”

“If you need to cut meadows before July, keep an eye open for curlews flying up in front of the tractor, as they may have come off a nest. Mowing from the centre of the field outwards can help push any flightless chicks out of the way of machinery and into the safety of neighbouring fields.”

“Farmers can also give curlews a home by maintaining rush pasture and allotments to provide a mixture of short and long vegetation across the farm. Grazing with both cattle and sheep provides the vegetation structure that curlews prefer. Rush management by cutting or weed-wiping may also be necessary to keep them from becoming too dense.”

As well as offering advice for farmers, RSPB is conducting research aimed at halting the curlew decline across a number of sites in the UK. Janet Fairclough is available to provide free advice to farmers in the North Pennines and would particularly like to hear from those in the Allen Valleys, Lunedale and Baldersdale. She can be reached on 07866 554169 or at janet.fairclough@rspb.org.uk Some funding is available to help farmers control dense rush in these areas for the benefit of nesting curlews.