Endangered curlews released after being collected from region's airfields

Six curlew took flight at Wild Ken Hill at Snettisham, near King's Lynn, the latest of 37 young birds that have been released this summer.

Eggs laid on the region's airfields, which would have been destroyed to reduce the risk of bird strikes to aircraft, are collected as part of the Natural England-led project.

One of the young curlews released at Wild Ken Hill (Image: Natural England)

Chicks are hatched and reared, before being released at more suitable habitats.

This year's 37 birds have been released at Wild Ken Hill and the Sandringham Estate after being reared at Pensthorpe Natural Park, near Fakenham.

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) will be keeping tabs on many of them via GPS tags and radio transmitters to boost efforts to track their movements and understand habitat use and survival.

Guided tours have been launched for visitors to explore the rewilding area at the Wild Ken Hill estate in west Norfolk (Image: Wild Ken Hill)

People can also help BTO’s tracking of the birds by reporting sightings of curlew with yellow leg tags at bit.ly/HS-curlew.

The curlew, Europe’s largest wading bird, is now red-listed, meaning it is of the highest conservation priority.

The UK is home to about a quarter of the global breeding population of curlew but the species has suffered very significant declines over the past 40 years due to loss of habitat and predation, with lowland England, its traditional range, experiencing some of the most severe declines.

Some of the curlew before being released (Image: Natural England)

As a ground-nesting species, curlew are attracted to airfields which mimic the natural open grasslands they prefer.

But birds nesting close to runways pose a danger to air safety and, until this project began, eggs laid on airfields would be destroyed under licence to prevent the risk of collisions between aircraft and birds.

Curlew have been in decline due to pollution and habitat loss (Image: Natural England)

As well as saving curlew from airfields, the project aims to pioneer the recovery of curlew elsewhere within their range. It will also help assess how nature recovery networks can help species bounce back from population declines and recover their former ranges.