Stone curlews nest on open chalk downland and arable farmland, facing threats from agricultural disturbance, predation, and habitat loss across southern England.
Stone curlew welfare is severely compromised by agricultural disturbance during the breeding season. Nest destruction by cultivation or rolling can kill eggs and chicks outright. The stress of repeated disturbance causes nest abandonment, leaving eggs and chicks exposed to cold and predators. Chicks that survive machinery but lose parents face starvation. On arable land, herbicide and pesticide use reduces the invertebrate prey that adults need to feed growing chicks, causing slow starvation and growth failure.