The Eurasian curlew, with its haunting bubbling call, has suffered catastrophic population declines in the UK and is considered the bird most at risk of extinction in Britain, requiring urgent, coordinated conservation action.
Curlew chicks experience starvation when wet grassland habitats are drained, eliminating the invertebrates they need. Predation by generalist predators whose own populations have expanded due to human landscape changes causes extensive nest and chick mortality. Agricultural operations - particularly early cutting of upland grassland - kill chicks directly. The curlew's long pre-fledging period means any nest failure in the first six weeks results in complete breeding failure for that pair. The combination of habitat loss, predation pressure, and climate change creates a welfare crisis for each individual attempting to breed.