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SWT / SOS Save our Curlews Campaign, and Clee Hill Community Wildlife Group

Curlew Nest Finding and Protection Project in Clee Hill area

2018 Introduction Monitoring by the Clee Hill Community Wildlife Group (CHCWG) has shown a steady decline in breeding pairs in the area, from an estimated 13 pairs in 2012 to 8-9 pairs in 2017. A similar trend has been recorded by other groups in Shropshire, with an estimated decline of around 77% in the last 20 years across Shropshire as a whole. The decline is due to insufficient young fledging to replace older birds dying off.

Shropshire Wildlife Trust (SWT) and Shropshire Ornithological Society (SOS) have launched a joint Save our Curlews campaign, funded by an appeal. It aims to establish the reasons for poor breeding success, by finding Curlew nests using a combination of local volunteers and professional fieldworkers, protect them with electric fencing, monitor them to hatching, then ring and radio-tag the chicks to track their movements and status. The data collected will inform decisions about future strategies to reverse the decline. Project work was undertaken in the Upper Clun and Clee Hill areas in 2018, in co-operation with, and building on the local knowledge of, the respective Community Wildlife Groups. Briefing Landowners and Farmers Project work required access to both farmland and common grazed land, which needed the support and co-operation of the local farmers and land-owners. Therefore, all of the 14 landowners who had Curlews on their land in 2017 were contacted before the project started, to brief them on what was involved, and gain their support and trust. Many of them were visited, and a written briefing was provided to them all. Two further farmers were contacted and briefed during project work, when Curlews were located on their land. A presentation was made to the Clee Hill Commoners Association annual meeting on 18 May 2018. The meeting, and all the farmers and land owners contacted individually, were very helpful and supportive of the project. The briefing for landowners is attached as Appendix 1 and an accompanying “Curlew factsheet” is Appendix 2. Briefing the General Public A leaflet describing the project, Curlews need Farmers, was widely distributed in the area, and at the Community Wildlife Group Annual Meeting. The content was included in an article in the monthly community magazine, Cleobury Clarion, and on the Clee Hill Facebook page. It included an appeal for people to report any Curlews seen or heard. This was completed before Curlews arrived back on their breeding grounds, but the appeal was repeated several times during the survey period.

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The leaflet is attached as Appendix 3. Locating Curlews Surveys in previous years provided an indication of where Curlews could be found. In 2018, 28 local residents, all members of the CHCWG, were out looking for Curlews. Surveys involve three visits to a 2x2 kilometre square (a “tetrad”), around the beginning of April, the beginning of May, and mid-June, in 20 squares (80 square kilometres) centred on Clee Hill. Members with Curlews in their square were asked to make additional visits, and / or bring forward their early May visit to late April, to increase the likelihood of seeing Curlews on the ground near their prospective nest site. In total, CWG members spent a total of over 180 hours undertaking this survey work, mostly prior to the start of the nest finding at the end of April. The atrocious April weather delayed the return of some pairs to their breeding areas, so records from some sites were late coming in. Eventually seven pairs, possibly 8 - 10, plus another pair just outside the area, were located. While the survey is not intensive, and has its limitations, it can draw on analysis from previous years (Curlews are usually site faithful), and in 2018 both birds in the seven definite pairs were seen displaying together, often in competition with adjacent pairs, at sites where they have been found previously. There were up to three possible additional pairs. Only single birds were heard at two locations, although these sites had breeding pairs in previous years, and a pair was seen at a third location for the first time in late May, showing no evidence of breeding, and it could not be relocated. It is possible that other pairs have been overlooked, but based on survey results since 2012 this seems unlikely, and the nest finders did not produce any evidence for additional pairs. A map showing the location of all records received, and a summary map grouping the records into territories (breeding pairs), are attached as Appendices 4 and 5 respectively.

Group members have not attempted to find nests in previous years, and this was left to professional ornithologists, Martyn Owen and Richard Moores of BIOME Consulting, in 2018.

Nest Finding and Protection

Nest finding commenced on 26 April. When Curlews were located, farmers were contacted to seek the necessary access permissions; this was made much easier by the initial contact and briefing having been already done. Three nests were found, and breeding was confirmed at one further location:

1. Nest 1 was found on 17 May and held five eggs, including one that had different markings, possibly ‘dumped’ by another female (see photo). This egg subsequently disappeared, presumably predated, and another egg was predated too, probably by a corvid. Another egg didn’t hatch, but two did.

2. Nest 2 had four eggs, and they all hatched. 3. Nest 3 was found before the clutch was complete

on the relatively late date of 16 May, so it might have been a relay after an earlier first clutch failed. All four eggs hatched.

Clutch of five eggs in nest 1

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Nests 1 and 3 were in damp tussocky rough grazing with clumps of soft rush, as can be seen from the photos on this page. Nests 1 and 3 were fenced. A pole-mounted camera trap was installed focusing on Nest 1 with the intention of providing additional information on nest outcome. This camera trap was installed concurrently with fence erection, and prolonged observations of the nest were completed thereafter to ensure that the adult birds returned to the nest. Nest 2 was located within a field that was fully enclosed by a permanent rabbit-proof fence topped with an electric wire, and it was decided that a further small scale electric fence to protect the nest was unnecessary. A fourth pair was located at a regularly used site just north of the area. However, Curlew egg shells were found within a tractor rut before the nest could be found. It is not clear if the nest was destroyed by a vehicle, or the egg shell fragment had been moved from the location of the failed nest. The electric fence provides protection against mammalian predators, but not avian ones. The two sequential photos from the trail camera near Nest 1 show the fence, and a crow trying to drive the sitting Curlew from the nest, but it sits tight, so the Crow pulled out its tail feathers in a more determined, but still unsuccessful, attempt to predate the eggs.

Erecting the electric fence

at nest site 3.

Nesting Curlew harassed by Carrion Crow

Tail feather of sitting Curlew pulled out by Carrion Crow

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Radio-tagging One of the two chicks that hatched at Nest 1 had left the nest before it was radio-tagged, and could not be found. The other one was radio-tagged, together with all eight chicks from the other two nests, and all nine were fitted with a BTO metal ring. The upper photo on the right shows one of the two broods of four, at Nest 2, ringed and tagged, the larger photo below shows the other brood of four at Nest 3, while the smaller photo shows one of the chicks at Nest 2, with the ring visible. A radio tag is visible in all three photos. They are small and weigh only 1.2 g each, which is just over 2% of the average weight of a newly hatched curlew chick or about 1/3rd the weight of a 1p piece. The radio tagged chick from Nest 1 had disappeared by 18 June, but judging from the behaviour of the adult, the untagged chick was still alive. However, neither it, nor the adult, could be relocated on 1 July, and it was presumed predated. Unfortunately, all the chicks from Nest 2 died through a combination of starvation and dehydration, due to the extremely hot dry weather in June, and also possibly the application of herbicide to the vegetation within their foraging area, which would have killed off their invertebrate prey. One of the chicks from Nest 3 disappeared, and another was taken back to a Buzzard nest, but at least one, and probably a second, fledged successfully. The former was seen to fly, and the adult in the same place was very agitated for several days afterwards, indicating the presence of the young Curlew(s) nearby. Both chicks were colour-ringed before fledging, and are consequently uniquely identifiable. However, subsequent attempts to see and count the fledged young proved unsuccessful. The radio tags are very reliable, but they are designed to fall off before the chick fledges (they are attached to the down, which is replaced by feathers when the chick is almost fully grown). Their battery has a short life, about as long as the chick takes to fledge. Radio contact with the second chick was lost at around the time it was due to fledge. Although it may have been predated, it is more likely that the battery died, or the tag fell off and landed somewhere that blocked the signal.

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If a radio-tagged chick dies before the battery runs out, it can often be found, and the cause of death identified, but if the chick (and tag) is carried off outside the area by a predator, or is taken down a hole by a mammalian predator, the signal is lost. Predation Therefore, of the nine radio tagged chicks, one definitely fledged and one probably fledged. Four perished due to dehydration or starvation in the rabbit-fenced enclosure that has been successfully used as a nest site for some years, one was definitely predated by a Buzzard, and the other two were probably predated, but the signal from the

tags was lost in spite of extensive searches of the area; as the tags are reliable, it is likely that they had been carried out of range or underground, by avian or mammalian predators. If the latter, fox, although not the

only possibility, is most likely. No chicks were lost to agricultural operations. Foxes are shot at the farm where the chick(s) fledged, but it is not known whether this has a significant impact on the local population. Other pairs There were at least five other pairs in the area.

1. One north of Titterstone Clee, in square 57Z, were seen on farmland in April, but the farmer believes they nest on the common to the south of the farm. They were not seen or heard after the beginning of May, so either they did not come into breeding condition because of the weather, or any nest failed early.

2. Another, on the common between Random and Whatshill in 67D, was seen on a couple of occasions, but heard frequently and regularly in the early morning by a local resident until mid-June. A search for a nest was unsuccessful. However, it appears from the reported behaviour that this pair still had an active nest on 30 May, when young may have been hatching. If so, they did not survive long. A search on 17 June located the adult pair, but there were definitely no chicks by that date.

3. A pair south-east of Cleeton St Mary, and another on the common near Crumpsbrook, were seen early in the season, but no evidence of any nest, or their possible locations, was found. It is possible that these observations were of a single pair.

4. A pair near Hollywaste crossroads (including an individually identified bird due to its damaged leg) was seen frequently, but no evidence of a nest was found, in spite of much searching. This pair either did not come into breeding condition, or any nesting attempt failed early.

Other Curlews Just Outside the Clee Hill Area The articles in the Clarion produced a report of another regular pair near Stottesdon, and other reports were received of a pair near Hayton’s Bent. Both sites are close to the project area, and attempts will be made to include them next year. Colour-ringing Tony Cross of the mid-Wales Ringing Group has colour-ringed over 160 adult Curlews caught at Dolydd Hafren Montgomery Wildlife Trust Reserve (near Welshpool) since 2016, mainly in March as they return to their breeding grounds. There is a conspicuous orange ring on the right leg, which are all the same, but all of these birds are individually identifiable from

Tracking radio-

tagged chicks

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two unique letters on the yellow ring on the left leg. Although several colour-ringed Curlews have been found breeding at nest sites in south-west Shropshire, none have been seen in the Clee Hill area. The two chicks colour-ringed on Clee Hill in 2018 were fitted with the same type of colour-rings. Population Decline There have been two pairs on Catherton Common during each of the last three years, but only one pair was located in 2018. One of the birds in the missing pair had a deformed leg, and one of the birds in the pair at Hollywaste exhibited a similar deformity this year. This may be co-incidence, but no deformity had been noted at Hollywaste in previous years. Curlews are known to be highly site faithful, and form long-lasting pairs, but will quickly form a new partnership if their mate dies, and it is considered likely that this happened here this year. The population in the area has therefore apparently declined by a further pair. Conclusion Two nests (1 and 3) were only 950m apart, indicating that high densities may still be found in areas of good habitat. The electric fencing worked successfully in protecting eggs, and newly hatched chicks before they left the fenced areas, from mammalian predators, agricultural activities and livestock, and people (one site was next to a public footpath), as no eggs or newly hatched chicks were lost to any of these threats, although two eggs were taken by avian predators. . Without the fencing it is likely that many, if not all, of the eggs, would have been predated, so fencing has allowed more chicks the chance of developing to fledging stage. At one site the chicks were in a grass field, and were potentially vulnerable when it was to be mown for silage. As they were radio-tagged, the chicks could have been rounded up and kept safe from the mower, but in the end this was unnecessary because the chicks moved on. At least one, and probably two, radio-tagged chicks fledged. These birds were colour-ringed, so each is individually identifiable by the two letters on the yellow ring on the left leg. The unmarked conspicuous orange ring on the right leg, which is often reported as red, can also be seen in the photo, as well as the BTO metal ring which was fitted just after hatching. Colour-ringed Curlews might be located in future on their wintering grounds, and in this area if they return to breed in two years’ time (they are believed to spend their first year on the coast, probably where they winter). Although this may not seem to be a high success rate, Curlews are long-lived birds, and each pair only needs to fledge one chick every other year to produce a sustainable population.

Colour-ringed

Curlew chick

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If Curlews nest inside the rabbit-proof fence again next year, it will be possible to provide supplementary food to increase the chance of breeding success, and, if this is not successful, move the chicks to suitable habitat nearby. Farmers and landowners have been very supportive of the project, and now have more information about how the Curlews use their land. We need to increase our understanding of Curlews’ breeding behaviour, and the risks they face. Adults sitting on nests, eggs on the ground, and chicks moving about to feed, are all vulnerable to a succession of land management and predation risks. Subject to the necessary funds being raised, the project will continue next year, in particular to try and find out more about chick behaviour, and the risks they face. The SWT / SOS Save our Curlews Campaign The Save Our Curlews project work is paid for by a joint SWT / SOS appeal; more details can be found on-line (www.shropshirebirds.com/save-our-curlews). Surveys are carried out by volunteers, but funds are needed to pay for experts to locate and fence nests, to radio-tag and radio-track chicks, and to provide training in nest location and monitoring. Electric fencing, and equipment to radio-tag and track chicks, must also be bought. Please donate if you feel you can. See www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/appeals.

The Cleobury Clarion has made a donation to the Appeal, and encouraged readers to do so. It is up to local residents to save the local Curlews, so their fate rests in our hands. Please donate too to help ensure this iconic bird does not disappear from our area for ever. If they are lost, they won’t come back.

Acknowledgements Thanks to:-

The CWG members involved in the bird surveys: Chris Bargman, Bob Braddock, Beth & Lionel Bridge, Simon Brown & the Shropshire Wild Team, John Cartledge, Caroline Dahn, Barbara Daniels, Rachael Davenhill, Eric Davies, Eric Evans, Ian Ferguson, Celia Gibb, Helena Hale, Mark & Martyne Hook, Peter Johnson, Angela Mackirdy, Chris Neal, Carl Price, David & Ginny Seckerson, Margaret Shaw, Kit Smith, Gareth Thomas, Linda Webb, Marian Wootton and Kate Wyke.

Caroline Dahn, Chris Bargman, Angela Mackirdy and Gareth Thomas for contacting and briefing farmers and landowners at the start of the project.

Chris Bargman, for receiving reports of Curlews from the general public.

All the farmers and owners who gave permission for project work on their land.

Martyn Owen and Richard Moores (BIOME Consulting), for finding the nests.

Tim Lewis, for erecting and maintaining the electric fences, and monitoring the radio-tagged chicks.

Tony Cross, for fitting the radio tags and BTO rings to all the chicks, and colour-ringing the two about to fledge.

John Plant, Martyn Owen, Tim Lewis, Richard Moores, Tony Cross and Amy Cross for the photographs.

Celia Gibb and Eric Davies for additional fieldwork looking for fledged chicks.

Leo Smith

Campaign co-ordinator

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CLEE HILL COMMUNITY WILDLIFE GROUP CURLEW RECOVERY PLAN

CURLEWS NEED FARMERS

Farmers around Clee Hill who still have Curlews on their land are the lucky few. We know from talking to you how much you value them, and that you already make efforts to protect their nests. In spite of this, their breeding success is very poor, and unless this is reversed Curlew will soon die out in the area. Thanks to our survey work, and the information collected from farmers, we now know more about our local Curlews than ever before, and that gives us a good start. But we need to go further, and that will depend on you. We must try to ensure that eggs hatch, and chicks survive to fledging, and where they don't, we need to find out what's causing the failures. In order to build on last year's successful nest protection work in other areas, we've secured funding for professional help with nest-finding, nest protection and chick monitoring. The plan will only work if it's a partnership that keeps everybody happy. We want to emphasise that agreeing to give it your support doesn't commit you to accepting every part of it. You'll be consulted at every step, and can call a halt at any time if it clashes with your plans, or you're unhappy with the way it's going. If you agree, this is how it will work: ( indicates there's an explanation overleaf)

STEP ONE (mid to late April)

Please Chris Bargman (see over) about any Curlew activity on your land

CHCWG members will also be looking out for Curlews, using public rights of way

STEP TWO (late April to early May)

where it's likely there's a nest, Martyn Owen, an experienced nest-finder, will ask your permission to visit the site to try to find it

if a nest is found, you will be the first to know, and it will be kept strictly confidential

STEP THREE (early May to mid-June)

we'll ask what your plans are for the nest field and talk over possible risks to the nest and chicks, such as predation, trampling by stock, or use of machinery

we'll ask you to allow Tim Lewis (see over) to put an electric fence round the nest

STEP FOUR (early June to mid-July)

when the chicks hatch in early June, we'll ask permission for Tony Cross, an experienced ringer with the necessary licences, to ring and radio-tag the chicks

where chicks are radio-tagged, we'll ask further permission for Martyn, Tim or Tony to revisit the site every few days to track their movements with a receiver

We'll keep you up to date with developments at your nest(s) up to the final outcome

PLEASE TURN OVER FOR MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT TEAM, AND ANSWERS TO SOME OF THE QUESTIONS YOU'LL HAVE

Appendix 1.

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THE PROJECT TEAM

Chris Bargman is co-ordinating the collection of Curlew records from farmers and the general public, to supplement the results of the Community Wildlife Group volunteer Curlew surveys

Contact: 01299 270514 email: chwg.birdgroup@gmail.com

Martyn Owen is an Ecological Consultant, until recently Shropshire County Bird Recorder Contact: mobile 07736 286675 email: martyn@biomeconsulting.com

Tim Lewis lives in the Upper Clun, and is experienced in fencing Curlew nests Contact: 01588 640102 mobile: 07966 180289 email: tim.p.lewis@gmail.com

Tony Cross is a Consultant Ornithologist with extensive experience of Curlew conservation Contact: mobile: 07837 521673

QUESTIONS YOU'RE LIKELY TO HAVE

What does nest finding involve? A lot of quiet watching and waiting! Martyn may ask if he can take a 4x4 onto the land to use as a mobile hide - if you agree, of course he'll follow your instructions about where to go

How much land does the electric fence enclose, and how long is it up for? It's a 20m x 20m square, and will be up for at most five weeks between early May and mid-June, less if the nest fails

Who's going to maintain it? Electric fences will be maintained by Tim Lewis - he'll visit them every few days to check them over, carry out any maintenance and replace the batteries

How are you going to get the equipment to the site? Ideally, equipment will be taken as close as possible to the site by vehicle; when we ask for permission we'll also take note of your instructions about where to drive, and what to avoid

Will I be liable for anything that happens on my land? All people working on the project do so at their own risk, and where appropriate have the necessary insurance - you incur no potential liability in giving permission for access

Isn't there a risk the disturbance will just make matters worse for the Curlews? We're the very last people who would want to do that! All members of the project team are experienced in monitoring birds and their nests and know how to keep disturbance to an absolute minimum. The measures we're proposing are all strictly controlled by licence. Similar projects elsewhere have found no evidence that Curlews are harmed by anything we propose.

PLEASE SEE THE ACCOMPANYING FACT SHEET FOR MORE ABOUT CURLEW DECLINE, AND DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO MAKE SURE THE HILLS DON'T FALL SILENT

This project is part of the SAVE OUR CURLEWS campaign funded from a joint appeal by SHROPSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST and

SHROPSHIRE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

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CLEE HILL COMMUNITY WILDLIFE GROUP

CURLEW FACTSHEET

We've been surveying Curlews around Clee Hill since 2012. In that time, the population has declined alarmingly, by almost one-third, from 13 breeding pairs in 2012, to only 9 pairs in 2017. It's the same story across Shropshire. The red downward arrows on the map show where Curlew was breeding 25 years ago but is now gone. In 2010 the County population was estimated at 160 breeding pairs - we’ve lost another 30 pairs (20%) since then. The black squares show where Curlews are holding on. Down there in the bottom centre is Clee Hill. We've been known as a Curlew stronghold since people began keeping records. Curlew has disappeared from large areas of the UK. In 2015 it was put on the Red List of endangered birds, and described as the UK's 'most pressing bird conservation priority'.

WHAT WENT WRONG? there's good evidence that the root cause of Curlew's decline is loss of nesting and feeding

habitat over many decades

they're waders, needing damp areas to feed, so land drainage has hit them particularly hard

as ground-nesters they need vegetation long enough to hide the nest and incubating bird

with less rush these days, Curlews often nest in hay or silage fields, where they're exposed to many risks - rolling and topping endangers nests, and they can be trampled by stock

silage is cut earlier than hay - chicks too young to escape can be on fields when they're mown

increased predation is another factor - conifer plantations shelter bird and mammal predators, while human activities such as roadkill and pheasant releases keep numbers artificially high

WHAT CAN BE DONE? the long-term solution is habitat restoration on a substantial scale, but as Curlew face

extinction long before that can happen, we need to improve breeding success to keep them going

there are some things on our side - Curlews are long-lived birds, and don't need to produce many chicks each year for the population to survive

nest protection has been shown greatly to increase the number of eggs that survive to hatch

at the moment there's not much we can do to protect the chicks once they hatch, as they very quickly leave the nest area and wander around feeding themselves

but if we can find out by tracking them what their greatest threats are in this area, we can start to look at measures to reduce them

CURLEW BREEDING TIMETABLE eggs laid in a nest on the ground, usually in early-mid May; incubation lasts for up to 29 days

chicks hatch early to mid-June, and remain on the ground for around 32 - 38 days until fledging in mid to late July; so as eggs and chicks they're vulnerable for over two months in total

WE MUSTN'T LET THE CURLEW DIE OUT – PLEASE DO WHATEVER YOU CAN

©Shropshire Ornithological Society

Appendix 2.

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Clee Hill COMMUNITY WILDLIFE GROUP

CURLEWS NEED FARMERS

Farmers around Clee Hill who still have Curlews on their land are the lucky few. Local farmers have told us stories of marking nests in the past, before mowing, to avoid them where possible. It is clear there is a great deal of affection for Curlews amongst local inhabitants.

In spite of this, their breeding success is very poor, and unless this is reversed Curlew will soon die out in the area. The local population has declined by 31% in only 5 years,

and there are now less than 10 pairs. There is a real danger that their haunting, bubbling call, will be lost for ever.

We’ve been looking for local Curlews since 2012, so we know where the territories are, and that gives us a good start. But we need to go further. We must try to ensure that eggs hatch, and chicks survive to fledging, and where they don't, we need to find out what's causing the failures. To do that, we need to find the nests, protect them, and then follow the chicks to fledging. We have not attempted to find the nests before.

The protection involves putting a small electric fence (25 metres square) around the nest, which has been shown to make a big improvement in hatching success, then radio tagging chicks to see what happens to them.

The plan will only work if it's a partnership that keeps everybody happy, and has the support of farmers. We will therefore be visiting farmers who had, or might have had, Curlews nesting on their land in 2017, to explain what’s involved, answer any questions, and ask for support and the necessary permissions. We’ll adapt the plans to fit in with the requirements of each farm.

We've secured funding for professional help with all this. Our surveys are carried out by volunteers, but funds are needed to pay for experts to locate and fence nests. Electric fencing and radio tags for chicks also need to be bought.

We would welcome the active involvement of farmers to spread the word within the farming community, and encourage people to tell us where the Curlews are.

To start with, we need to locate the Curlews that come back in 2018. Wildlife Group members will be out looking for them, from Public Rights of Way, from the end of March, but any other records, especially from landowners, could be very important.

If you see or hear any Curlews, please tell Chris Bargman 01299 270514 chwg.birdgroup@gmail.com

This project is part of the SAVE OUR CURLEWS campaign, funded from a joint appeal by SHROPSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST and

SHROPSHIRE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY More details can be found on-line (www.shropshirebirds.com/save-our-curlews).

Electric fence near Ale Oak (Upper Clun) 2017

© Tim Lewis

Appendix 3.

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Appendix 4. All Curlew records 2018

Appendix 5. Curlew territories 2018