The RSPB is right to call in gamekeepers and follow the evidence (Rod Liddle - Royal Society for the Protection of (some) Birds. Not you, crow - you must die in agony, August 12) that predation can and does impact curlew populations. Our upland experiment predicted that predation control can nearly double curlew numbers in five years but, without it, they are facing local extinctions.
This finding is in line with the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) which reported that over 70% of curlew nests across Europe, failed to hatch a single chick. Rod Liddle is right that crows are part of our countryside, but since he joined the RSPB their population has more than doubled and it is time to now help the curlew.
To not remove a few crows in our race to save a globally rare species, is like asking a doctor to withhold antibiotics just because bacteria plays a role in sustaining our global ecosystem. The RSPB is right to do what works, before it’s too late.
Andrew Gilruth
Director of Communications at GWCT
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✓ Introduction - a species in decline
✓ Pressures on breeding
✓ High levels of nest and chick predation
✓ Agricultural nest destruction
✓ Breeding curlew facts
✓ What can I do?
✓ Summary & key points
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