World Curlew Day is next Sunday, April 21st. The decline of the curlew, whose call truly merits that overused word “iconic”, is one of the most shocking natural history stories of recent years. In Ireland, we have gone from over 5000 breeding pairs in the mid 80s to 125 or so now.
In the run up to World Curlew Day I plan to post various curlew-related links. I really wouldn’t to have to do another Extinct in Ireland series featuring the curlew in a few years.
So here is “Keeper of the Call”, a short film highlighting the painstaking and often heartbreaking efforts to conserve the curlew by a Welsh famer, Wynford Jones.
Keeper of the Call from Billy Clapham on Vimeo.
Séamus Sweeney 