Having a small flock of Curlew on the riverside and marsh has other bonuses other than just being able to watch these enigmatic birds... keep your ears open and you may hear the liquid bubbling song as one decides to defend it chosen patch of mud...
Close your eyes, concentrate and transport yourself up onto a northern heather moorland where the species is also very much at home, where the song is coupled with a strange fluttering, wavering flight as the male first climbs and then wafts back down to earth in a flurry and over-beating wings and beautiful song for all the world looking like a giant mosquito...
(Lawrence Rogers)
17-2-13