Date Created: 11/12/2008 11:51:00 AM
A weird bird with a bill the length of a banana and width of a pencil is finding Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire the perfect place to live.
Curlew numbers have crashed across the UK over the past few decades as hay meadows have disappeared, and fields have been drained and developed.
But a unique project between farmers, Natural England and the RSPB is bucking the trend.
The success is down to the farmers creating the hay meadows and shallow, muddy pools that curlews love for probing for earthworms and building their nests.
The birds have responded, increasing across the upper Thames tributaries from just 15 pairs in 1997 to around 50 pairs this summer.
This work has been backed by Natural England’s higher level farming scheme and specialist advice from the RSPB’s Lapwing LandScape project.
Farmer Susan Martin of Creswell Farm, near Faringdon said: “Our fields by the river were, in fact, water meadows. We have, of course, been pleased to work with the RSPB.”
Drew McVey, RSPB Lapwing LandScapes officer, said: “With the sun rising through swirling mist and curlews calling above your head, you enter another world that is so special it takes your breath away.”