Curlews are in catastrophic decline across Britain, with breeding welfare threatened by predation, agricultural changes and drainage of upland breeding habitat.
Curlew welfare and conservation are intimately linked during the breeding season. Adults subjected to repeated predation attempts experience significant stress. Headstarting programmes carry welfare costs including artificial incubation, chick rearing in captivity and translocation stress. However, these costs must be weighed against catastrophic population decline. The welfare of wild curlews is best served by landscape-scale habitat restoration that reduces predation pressure naturally while maintaining the wet grassland and moorland conditions they need.