Working with Curlew Action, we have developed a growing library of Curlew conservation resources, including webinars, workshops and case studies. Discover case studies and research on conservation, farming, land management and headstarting.
Category Archives: Blog
Leave The Leaves Project
A comparative earthworm survey for The Royal Parks investigating how leaf litter management influences soil biodiversity in Bushy Park and Kensington Gardens, providing evidence to inform future park management.
Sapperton Wilder Baseline Earthworm Survey
Discover how a three-year baseline earthworm survey is helping measure soil health and nature recovery at Sapperton Wilder. Learn why earthworms are important indicators of healthy soils, what the survey revealed, and how this baseline will be used to monitor the success of regenerative agriculture and habitat restoration.
Can Infiltrators be Indicators? Understanding Cuckoo Bumblebees
Cuckoo bumblebees are obligate parasites that must successfully invade and gain control of a host bumblebee colony to achieve reproductive success. As apex species, these cuckoos have been considered as potential indicator species of healthy bumblebee habitat for some time. However, our limited understanding of cuckoo bumblebee ecology makes it difficult to understand their full impact on host populations and the challenges they face as a group. In this talk, Sofia describes this fascinating host-parasite relationship and presents experiments she has conducted to unravel the complexities of the cuckoo bumblebee lifecycle.
Friend, Foe, or Freeloader? The Flower Crab Spider
The Flower Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) is a camouflage expert when it comes to hiding out on flower heads to capture prey. In this talk, Rose will introduce the ecology of these spiders, why it is important to study these types of interactions, the many different techniques she’s utilising to do that, and how you can get involved with helping to decipher the choices these spiders make.
Underexplored Freshwater Habitats in Ireland: Case Studies Using Riverflies
Ireland’s freshwater landscape encompasses over 12,000 lakes and extensive river networks, primarily shaped by Pleistocene glaciation. Standard aquatic surveys consistently target riffle zones, boulder substrates, and macrophyte beds, systematically overlooking specialised microhabitats such as seeps, temporary streams, turloughs, and those with groundwater sources including springs and the hyporheic zone of rivers that may harbour unique invertebrate communities.
Using Ephemeroptera (mayflies), Plecoptera (stoneflies), and Trichoptera (caddisflies) as focal taxa, this talk examines distributional gaps and discusses species found in some of Ireland’s specialised aquatic habitats, based on recent surveys carried out at various locations across Ireland.
Poll-A-Gen Needs You!
Poll-A-Gen – a research initiative aiming to map pollinator genomics across the UK – is currently searching for amateur entomologists to contribute to the project by collecting pollinator specimens from anywhere in the UK and submitting them to be barcoded. This blog includes info about how you can get involved.
Pan-Species Listing: How to Become a Super-Naturalist
Pan-Species Listing (PSL) is an exciting initiative encouraging naturalists to record ALL the species they have seen in the UK in a friendly and competitive way that promotes general wildlife recording and biodiversity in the process. In this talk, Graeme Lyons will introduce the PSL approach, describe the benefits of the framework, and then take us on a whistle-stop tour of the relevant ‘groups’ of wildlife in the UK (how to get into them, where to start, etc.). The talk will be sprinkled with lots of nice photos and anecdotes from Graeme’s storied career as an entomologist and pan-species lister.
Hogsmill Valley Biological Recording Project
The Biological Recording Company delivered six Field Recorder Day events at the Hogsmill Valley in south-west London between 2022 and 2025. We recorded plants, earthworms, beetles and pollinators and much more too. Read about what we got up to and what we found in this blog.
Backyard Bees: Private Green Spaces and Pollinator Diversity in Cities
Private green spaces, such as gardens and allotments, have an important role in supporting pollinator diversity within cities. This webinar explores the environmental factors that shape pollinator communities in these spaces, including the influence of both native and non-native plants. We will also examine whether gardens and allotments differ in their ability to provide resources for pollinators and identify which plant species are most frequently visited. This research aims to highlight the importance of private green spaces for sustaining pollinators in urban environments and inform strategies to make cities more biodiversity-friendly.