Tune into Eco Eye on RTE tonight at 7pm to better understand the plight of the curlew, Ireland’s bird on the brink. The Eco Eye team will be investigating the drastic decline in Ireland’s iconic Curlew numbers.
Curlew Numenius arquata
The curlew, the largest of the European wading birds, are native to our inland wetlands all year round and at winter they are joined on the coast by large numbers of migratory Curlew from Europe. Besides their unmistakable and hauntingly beautiful cry, they can be easily identified by their greyish brown speckled coat, long curved bill and long neck and legs.
But these iconic wetland birds are in crisis, their breeding numbers are at historic lows and without intervention their beautiful cry could soon be lost to Ireland.
Since 2007 they have been red-listed by the IUCN due to their small and declining breeding population. There has been widespread declines all across Europe but it’s the populations in Ireland that are worst hit. Now there are only a few hundred breeding pairs left in the country.
Tune in to the show tonight to better understand this problem and what can be done to save the curlew.
