Stone Curlew: Farmland Welfare and Conservation

Key Welfare Facts

Stone curlews require bare or sparsely vegetated open ground for nesting, making them highly farmland-dependent.
They declined sharply with agricultural intensification but have recovered through targeted agri-environment support.
Ground nesting makes eggs and chicks extremely vulnerable to agricultural operations and predator pressure.
Nest protection schemes using temporary fencing around located nests dramatically improve chick survival rates.
Conservation breeding and supplementary release programmes have reintroduced birds to historic range areas.
Stone curlew monitoring uses spotlight surveys and thermal imaging to locate nest sites for protection.

Welfare Assessment

Stone curlew welfare depends entirely on cooperative farming practices and nest protection. Supporting farms in the Breckland and Wessex Downs participating in stone curlew-specific agri-environment schemes directly funds the management keeping this species viable.

What You Can Do

Support farms participating in stone curlew conservation agri-environment schemes
Donate to nest protection and monitoring projects in key stone curlew areas
Advocate for continuation of Higher Tier stewardship payments for ground-nesting birds
Report stone curlew sightings to the RSPB monitoring network