The Eurasian curlew is one of Britain's most threatened wading birds, with breeding welfare severely compromised by nest failure, chick mortality, and the loss of wet grassland habitat.
Curlew breeding welfare encompasses both the direct welfare of individual birds experiencing nest predation events - which cause acute behavioral distress - and the chronic welfare costs of repeated breeding failures across multiple seasons. Curlews are long-lived and may attempt breeding for 20 or more years; if breeding success is consistently near zero, individuals invest repeatedly in failed reproductive attempts with associated physiological and psychological costs. Conservation management that addresses habitat quality alongside predator management - providing the conditions for successful breeding - directly improves the welfare prospects of individual breeding birds.