Here's a blog post from one of our committed and knowledgeable Phoenix Forum members, Ben Rees.
The curlew is one of the UK’s largest breeding waders and is an iconic bird of both estuary mudflats and of wet moorland. Its distinctive down curved bill looks too large for its head but is perfect for probing the mud to find food. However one of the most recognisable features of this bird is its call, which is usually a whistling ‘Cur-lee’ from which its name is derived.
Unfortunately this wonderful bird is in decline. In Wales - where I'm from - curlews have declined by about 80% between 1993 and 2006 with just 1,099 pairs left. This may have been caused by a number of things although the main reasons seem to be changes in land use (e.g. agricultural practices), loss of habitat and nest predation.
So how does this increasingly uncommon bird depend on European policy such as the Nature directives? Well first of all I think we need to understand what the Nature directives are.
The technical stuff
The Nature directives are basically a framework of European laws that enables species and habitats to be protected across the European Union, regardless of national and political boundaries.
The Nature Directives can be split into two parts, firstly the Birds Directive which was set up in 1979 and the Habitat Directive set up in 1992.
The Birds Directive is basically a set of regulations to protect birds by restricting the species, times and methods that they may be hunted; bans activities that may threaten birds (such as egg collecting and nest destruction) as well as setting up Special Protection Area’s (SPA’s) for 194 threatened species and all migratory species.
The Habitat Directives main aim is to promote the maintenance of biodiversity by protecting rare/threatened habitats, animals and plants. It does this by restoring and maintaining habitats (especially the 230 rare habitats) whilst taking into account the social, cultural and economic requirements of the area. This means that these habitats can flourish for both plants and animals. These Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and Marine Protection area’s make up a network of conservation sites known as Natura 2000.
How it affects curlews
Right, after that babble of names and subtle differences, we were talking about how all this affects the curlew weren’t we? So basically curlews quite often inhabit area’s which are a part of the Natura 2000 network such as Morecombe Bay which has one of the largest concentration of curlews in winter. This means that changes to the European Nature directives are very likely to have an effect on the curlew and changes are being looked at that may threaten the species.
Last year the European commission launched a ‘Fitness check’ to look at whether the Nature Directives are fit for purpose. The worry is that in a political climate where nature and biodiversity is often overlooked, the Nature Directives may be changed and become weaker.
The RSPB, along with many other organisations want to show the government that the Nature Directives is of huge importance to nature in the EU, with species generally doing far better within it that out and that the area’s protected under the directives have actually contributed about 200-300 Billion Euros of economic benefits per year.
So if, like me, you would like our biodiversity to no longer decrease and to see the iconic curlew continue to wade in our estuaries, please show your support by going to the RSPB’s defend nature campaign page. The campaign finishes 24 July.
Ben Rees