The call of the curlew brings hope for the birds’ future

12:50pm Thursday 28th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A BABY curlew, hatched and reared in the Golden Valley, is thought to be winging its way to warmer climes in South Africa.

Now people in the valley are hoping that it will return to the rural area next spring and produce one or more babies of its own.

The haunting song of the curlew is not uncommon in the hills of Herefordshire – but the sight of young curlews is rare.

At Turnastone Court Farm, farmers Robert and Chrissy Fraser are delighted that a pair of curlews did manage to raise at least one chick in one of their hay fields last spring.

They did various things to encourage the birds to breed on the farm, which was bought by The Countryside Restoration Trust to promote wildlife-friendly managed farming.

They set aside an area of short vegetation on fields which had not been ploughed for hundreds of years to encourage curlews to nest in hollows in the grass, while still being able to see approaching predators.

“We have also allowed water to drain from a ditch onto one field so that it has become wet,” said Robert.

When the curlews came in the spring, they monitored the birds and chose to delay cutting the hay to minimise disturbance during nesting.

They even put up a fence between the field and a footpath to encourage people and their dogs to stick to the path.

It was the constant call of a curlew that alerted Robert and Chrissy that some baby curlews had hatched.

“One morning I disturbed a buzzard which was very aggressively chased off by a curlew. When the buzzard settled in a distant tree and the curlew continued circling and calling for several minutes, I was confident that the curlews had young to protect,” explained Robert.

Together with others, he kept watch on the area and it is known that one of the fledglings survived to migrate for the winter.

They are now hoping it will be back next year to a friendly habitat and be the beginning of a special flock of Golden Valley curlews.