Stone curlews are cryptic, nocturnal waders that breed on chalk downland and arable land in southern England. Their welfare and conservation depend on protection of nest sites and appropriate agricultural management.
Stone curlew breeding welfare depends on a collaborative relationship between farmers and conservationists that is unusual among farmland birds. The RSPB's stone curlew recovery programme involves farm advisors locating nests, marking them with GPS, and liaising with farmers to avoid machinery operations near nests. This collaboration has been central to the population's recovery from under 200 pairs in the 1980s to approximately 400 pairs today. Individual nesting birds rely on extraordinary camouflage and stillness to avoid predation, making human disturbance from off-path walkers and dogs a significant welfare risk: flushed birds reveal nest locations to watching crows and foxes. The long migration to West Africa and return involves welfare challenges including Saharan crossing and hunting pressure on the Mediterranean flyway.