Bringing together farmers, conservationists and researchers to help secure the future of one of Britain’s most iconic birds
Curlews are one of the UK’s most recognisable wading birds, yet their breeding populations have declined dramatically over recent decades. Reversing these declines requires collaboration across farming, conservation, research and land management.
Working in partnership with Curlew Action, the Biological Recording Company delivers an educational programme that showcases successful conservation projects, shares practical management advice, and provides opportunities for people to learn directly from those working to protect curlews across the UK.
Curlew Conversations webinars
This programme features 3 pairs of free webinars, each involving an event providing an overview of a topic followed by a webinar with two case studies. Following delivery of each pair of webinars, the presentation recordings, further info links, and speaker Q&A write-ups have been published publicly via our website.
Published blogs
Curlew Conversations: Conservation
Mary Colwell (Curlew Action) outlines the challenges Curlews face and practical solutions for recovery, and two guest speakers present case studies at differing geographic scales.
Curlew Conversations: Farming
Discover how UK farmers are helping curlews recover through three inspiring presentations on nature-friendly farming, conservation grazing and wetland restoration.
Upcoming webinars
Curlews and Grouse Moors
Professor Ian Newton examines why poor breeding success is driving curlew declines and explores the evidence that managed grouse moors, through predator control, provide some of the most successful breeding habitats for this iconic species.
Curlew Conversations: Grouse Moors
In this follow-up to our Curlews and Grouse Moors webinar, we’ll hear from land managers about their experience of curlew populations on the managed grouse moors that they are responsible for.
European Curlew Headstarting Online Workshop
Headstarting is a conservation technique used to support threatened species by collecting eggs that would otherwise be lost, incubating and rearing the chicks in captivity, and releasing them back into the wild when they are ready to fledge. For Curlews, it is intended as a short-term intervention to boost breeding success while longer-term action addresses the underlying causes of population decline, such as habitat loss and poor breeding productivity.
The European Curlew Headstarting Workshop brought together project leaders, researchers and conservation practitioners from across Europe to share experiences and best practice. Over two days (6–7 February 2025), presentations explored every stage of headstarting, including licensing, egg collection, incubation, chick rearing, release methods, post-release monitoring and case studies from leading projects in the UK and Europe. To extend the workshop’s reach, presentation summaries were published as a series of blogs, creating a lasting resource that continues to support collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Published blogs
An Overview of Curlew Headstarting
Discover why Curlew headstarting is being used, when it can be an effective conservation tool, and the practical, ethical and licensing considerations that determine where it should be applied.
Curlew Headstarting Projects: Europe
Curlew conservationists from across Europe present their respective curlew headstaring projects.
Curlew Headstarting Projects: England
Conservationists working on curlew headstarting projects in England provide updates on their projects and the challenges that they have faced.
Curlew Headstarting: Eggs, Incubation and Hatching
Led by Tanya Grigg (WWT), this session explored Curlew egg collection, incubation, and hatching, including donor populations, incubation techniques, and hatching success.
Curlew Headstarting: Rearing Chicks
Led by Chrissie Kelley (Pensthorpe Conservation Trust), this session explored Curlew chick rearing, including enclosure design, feeding, health checks and chick handling.
Curlew Headstarting: Health and Disease
Led by Dr Sophie Common (ZSL), this session explored disease risk management, biosecurity measures, and veterinary care for Curlew headstarting projects.
Curlew Headstarting: Releasing Birds
Led by Dr Alex Nicol-Harper (WWT), this session explored Curlew release strategies, including hard and soft releases, site selection, and predator management.
Curlew Headstarting: Post-release Monitoring
Led by Katharine Bowgen (BTO), this session explored post-release monitoring, tracking methods and the survival of headstarted Curlews, with experiences shared from projects across Europe.
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Learn to identify birds by sound
Learn how to identify birds based on their calls in our Bird Acoustic ID training webinar series (all webinars just £12.50 each).
- Garden Birds (Thursday 28 January 2027)
- Woodland Birds (Tuesday 30 March 2027)
- Farmland Birds (Tuesday 18 May 2027)
