Keeping predator numbers down may be last hope for the ground-nesting birds – but critics say real problem is farming practices
Should we be organising mass culls of foxes and crows in the UK in order to save the plummeting numbers of curlews? That is the argument put forward by certain bird conservation groups.
The curlew, one of Britain’s most charismatic birds, with its curved beaks and distinctive call, has been disappearing from the countryside, declining by 60% in 25 years. It is just one of a number of ground-nesting birds that is vanishing – research has found that ground nesters are 86% more likely to decline than birds with other nesting strategies.
The root of the problem is complex. Farming practices such as running heavy machinery down fields to cut grass for silage are partly to blame for the decline. The machines chop up the eggs and chicks hidden in the grass.
But the additional issue is that the way humans manage the UK countryside has caused a population boom of foxes, crows and other mesopredators in some areas, which is putting ground-nesting birds at risk.
