Stone-curlew heroes Booklet_ONLINE... · 2017. 6. 27. · Stone-curlew heroes 3 Foreword They found...

Stone-curlew heroes 1

Stone-curlewheroes

2 Stone-curlew heroes

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Adult stone-curlew on the nest and calling in Breckland, Norfolk.

Martin Harper, Director of Conservation

Re-establishing some of these traditional nesting and foraging sites will not only benefit stone-curlews, but many other specialist species too.


Foreword

They found stone-curlews hanging on in the last remaining areas of extensive short grassland, some of which had been saved by their use as military training areas. Other pairs were nesting in crops, where nests were inadvertently destroyed by machinery. The species, also known as the goggle-eyed plover, or wailing heath chicken, had become almost entirely restricted to the Brecks in eastern England, and Wessex in central southern England. Associated with warm, dry and free-draining soils, they arrive from Spain and North Africa at the end of March, and leave again in October. The RSPB and Natural England (then the Nature Conservancy Council) set up the stone-curlew recovery project in 1985, to work with farmers to find and protect nests in crops so that they could manage

the fields safely around the nest. In the mid-1990s, the remaining areas of semi-natural habitat were designated Special Protection Areas. Further research showed that stone-curlews nest at lower densities near developments such as major roads and housing, and later the core Brecks area was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The use of crops for nesting increased following the conversion of many of the old warrens, heaths and downs to arable farming or forestry after World War I. Re-establishing some of these traditional nesting and foraging sites will not only benefit stone-curlews, but many other specialist species too.

Martin Harper, Director of Conservation

Foreword

In 1982, we sent our first stone-curlew research assistant out into the field. The aim was to find a cause of the steady decline in stone-curlews over the previous 50 years or so.


In this booklet we feature some of the people who have helped to achieve this success, to highlight the variety of ways people have contributed to saving stone-curlews, and acknowledge all who’ve played their part. A master of camouflage, looking out for areas of bare, stony ground to lay their eggs and raise their chicks, stone-curlews are wary of humans but now dependent on us for survival. Three main practical steps have been key to turning their fortunes around. These are:

• Finding and marking nests within crops to enable crop management to take place without harming eggs or chicks.

• Creating fallow plots where

stone-curlews can nest away from crops.

• Restoring and maintaining short semi-natural grass heath and downland for nesting and foraging.

It has been a tremendous effort over more than 30 years, but stone-curlews are now almost out of the woods, with a stable population of around 400 breeding pairs.

Key to their future will be continued support for farmers to enable them to create and maintain fallow nest plots, coupled with landscape scale semi-natural habitat restoration and protection of the most important sites from development pressure.

The population will also need to be monitored to ensure the recovery continues, and help target conservation management, so the role of volunteers in monitoring nest sites will continue to be important.

The stone-curlew recovery programme is evidence that, by working together in partnership to make space for wildlife, farmers, conservationists and communities can save species.

Introduction

IntroductionStone-curlews have recovered from the brink of UK extinction thanks to the hard work of many individuals, organisations and land managers.


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Stone-curlews have recovered from the brink of UK extinction.


Keith Betton catching a stone-curlew chick to ring and measure.

Keith Betton, volunteer

I knew the RSPB was doing a great job of advising farmers on the creation of plots for stone-curlews. So in 2010 I decided to volunteer to help with watching them.


I saw my first stone-curlew in Hampshire about 30 years ago. It was at long range through a telescope, and of course the bird skulked away from view as soon as it realised it was being watched. Over the next 20 years I never really enjoyed anything other than distant views of birds, mostly on private land that was completely inaccessible to the public.

I knew the RSPB was doing a great job of advising farmers on the creation of plots for stone-curlews. So in 2010 I decided to volunteer to help with watching them. The benefit would be two-fold: I’d be monitoring the birds and enabling them to have the best chance of success, and I’d also be able to enjoy watching them at the same time. I eventually ended up coordinating several volunteers across ten farms.

Over time I began to understand how stone-curlews live, and my confusion over what they were doing gradually led to me recognising patterns of behaviour. Back in 2010, I reckon I was confused for 75% of the time. Today it’s just 25%! Nobody ever gets to know this species perfectly – and that is why I get so much enjoyment from the work. You never stop learning.

Keith Betton, volunteer

As a keen birdwatcher and county bird recorder for Hampshire, Keith has been well aware of stone-curlews in his local “patch” for many years. His involvement with the stone-curlew recovery project grew over time, first passing records on to the RSPB, then taking on fieldwork responsibilities, liaising with landowners, and eventually coordinating a team of volunteers.

Since 2014, Keith and his team have been leading all stone-curlew monitoring and protection in their area of Hampshire. They check on about 15 fallow plots on 10 farms with 8–10 breeding pairs of stone-curlews, finding birds and nests, and carrying out nest protection where needed to enable farmers to carry out management safely.

Farmers benefit from the continuity and experience that the local volunteer team brings, and the stone-curlew population in this area is consequently doing well.


My earliest memories of stone-curlews were as a young girl sitting in my father’s Land Rover while he checked the cows calving in the spring. I will never forget the sight of that strangely prehistoric looking bird with the eerie call. In those days, there were no schemes available to help these rare birds, but as my father was a great lover of wildlife we did what we could to help.

The introduction of agri-environment schemes with the added financial support has enabled us to do far more. Added to this, the greater understanding of the birds’ needs, coupled with monitoring, and we have seen a steady growth in the stone-curlew population over the years. Indeed, it is now at a level that we have become one of the autumn roosts. It’s a real “wow” factor seeing a group of 50 stone-curlews, and I am proud that we’ve been able to play our part in the success of the species.

I am also thrilled that now my daughter comes out with me in the Land Rover when I am checking the cows at spring time and she too has an interest in this incredible bird.

It’s been very exciting to see the stone-curlews flourish on the four plots we have. I owe a lot to the stone-curlew as a species. If it wasn’t for the fact that they seem to love our farm we would certainly not have gone on to create RSPB Normanton Down nature reserve.

Rachel Hosier, farmer

Rachel and her family have farmed near Stonehenge in Wiltshire for generations. In 2004, part of the farm became a 92 hectare nature reserve through an agreement with the RSPB.

The chalk downland has been restored, sheep grazing has been established across the site, and stone-curlew plots are cultivated and managed annually. The down is home to two breeding pairs of stone-curlews annually, and most years there are more than a dozen pairs of lapwings too.

Every autumn Rachel allows the RSPB to run tours to allow others to enjoy the spectacle of roosting flocks occasionally exceeding 50 birds. In 2013 we also chose the roost on her farm as the perfect place to release a young stone-curlew which had been rehabilitated by a local rescue centre.


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An area managed for stone-curlews at RSPB Normanton Down nature reserve.

It’s a real “wow” factor seeing a group of 50 stone-curlews, and I am proud that we’ve been able to play our part in the success of the species. Rachel Hosier, farmer


We have had up to 43 breeding pairs of stone-curlews in recent years and regularly have higher than average chick survival. Gerald Gray, gamekeeper

The estate supports up to 43 breeding pairs of stone-curlews.

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I am the head gamekeeper on a large estate in the Norfolk Brecks. The estate is managed as a successful farm business, a game shoot, and for the benefit of wildlife. It’s a great example of how all these interests can be integrated through good conservation management, to benefit stone-curlews and a diverse range of wildlife species, some of which are special to the Brecks.

The estate has 11 stone-curlew nesting plots in place, as well as a network of different types of field margins providing habitat for rare arable plants and a range of insects. In turn, these provide food for wild birds, game birds and benefit the surrounding crop.

Many of the habitats in place are managed under the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme, including the nesting plots. Due to the combination of the HLS scheme, attentive conservation management and control of predators, we have had up to 43 breeding pairs of stone-curlews in recent years and regularly have higher than average chick survival.

Of course, none of this work could have taken place without the passion and commitment of the landowner and farming tenant, and their enthusiasm and commitment to diversification and species conservation. I find the way the estate and the RSPB work together to be a great experience as we are both pulling in exactly the same direction, attempting to provide countryside rich in farm wildlife that we can all enjoy.

Gerald Gray, gamekeeper

Gerald Gray has lived and worked on the same Norfolk estate for 26 years and has devoted a great deal of passion and energy into implementing conservation measures for stone-curlews and grey partridges.

The estate is owned by the van Cutsem family, and has a very high density of nesting stone-curlews. The shoot is managed in a sustainable way; boosting insect abundance and diversity for chick survival is a key focus, ensuring the success of ground nesting birds.

Gerald also goes the extra mile and will intervene wherever possible to ensure that stone-curlews are successful. This might include minimising disturbance near nesting birds and cultivating field corners to provide safe areas for chicks away from nearby farming operations.

The estate is so attractive to stone-curlews that, in recent years, small numbers have been overwintering there.


I can remember seeing my first stone-curlew in the late 1970s as it flew in off the sea at Portland. I met up with the early project staff in the mid-1980s while volunteering at Martin Down National Nature Reserve with my future colleague and fellow stone-curlew manager Paul Toynton.

In the late 1980s I got a job with the Nature Conservancy Council working on the designation of Salisbury Plain. From there, I started looking at management of the chalk downland, which included stone-curlews.

When I took a job with the Ministry of Defence on Salisbury Plain in the mid-1990s, I took on the management of the eastern side of Salisbury Plain. This included a stone-curlew management plan. I developed the programme of creating stone-curlew breeding sites and assessing their success.

I worked with the various staff of the RSPB stone-curlew project and fed in the data, by finding nests, ringing chicks and assessing outcomes. In this time we raised the stone-curlew population on the Ministry of Defence estate from 16 pairs to 35.

When you can manage a site like Salisbury Plain into one of such high quality for nature conservation, when on summer evenings you can sit and watch stone-curlews, see Montagu’s harriers and hobbies flying around you, hear quails and common curlews and watch brown hares, grey partridges, wheatears and lapwings using your managed plot, why would you want to do anything else?

Dominic Ash, ecologist

Dominic joined the MoD Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) as an ecologist on Salisbury Plain in 1995. Part of his role was to ensure that management and use of the site did not conflict with designated species and habitats.

Stone-curlews are a designated feature of the Special Protection Area, and juggling their needs with that of the military, archaeology, tenant farmers, and other wildlife is not a straightforward task.

Creation and management of fallow nesting plots in suitable areas, as well as rotation of cattle grazing in foraging areas, has maintained the stone-curlew population. In his new role at DIO, he has helped to secure the restoration of around 3,000 hectares of grass heath at the MoD’s Stanford Training Area (STANTA) in eastern England to benefit stone-curlews and over 300 other priority species. Dominic often spends his own time monitoring the birds and ringing chicks.


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Stone-curlews are now thriving on Salisbury Plain.

I worked with the various staff of the RSPB stone-curlew project and fed in the data, by finding nests, ringing chicks and assessing outcomes. Dominic Ash, ecologist


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Chris Knights’ award-winning photograpy of stone-curlews has helped raise awareness of their plight.

As a wildlife photographer I’m very fortunate to have stone-curlews on my doorstep, and they are fantastic birds to photograph. Chris Knights, farmer conservationist


I’ve been keen on wildlife from an early age. As a boy growing up in the Brecks, I spent hours watching birds and finding their nests. As a landowner and farm manager from the 1960s until my recent retirement, I was keen to do all I could to help stone-curlews along.

I used to pay farm workers out of my own pocket for every stone-curlew nest they found, and we would then work the farming operations around nests to ensure that birds could incubate eggs and raise chicks undisturbed; in fact sometimes we would delay working an entire field to accommodate the birds.

We must have been doing something right because stone-curlew numbers increased year on year.As a wildlife photographer I’m very fortunate to have stone-curlews on my doorstep, and they are fantastic birds to photograph. I got a shot of a stone-curlew and a lamb which I’m very pleased with – it won second prize in the British Birds Bird Photographer of the Year Award. In the 1990s I also made a film about stone-curlews called “Stone Runners” for the Survival ITV series. Stone-curlews are very elusive, so to capture different aspects of their behaviour on film takes a lot of time, patience and persistence.

I’m extremely pleased that the current farming tenants have continued the tradition of looking after stone-curlews and am proud that the farm now holds one of the highest densities of breeding stone-curlews in the UK.

Chris Knights, farmer conservationist

Chris Knights has been involved in almost every aspect of stone-curlew conservation from farm management toprofessional photography for more than 50 years. Few people have dedicated so much of their lives to stone-curlew conservation and this is why in 2015 we presented him with a lifetime achievement award.

He farmed around 1,300 hectares of predominantly arable land in West Norfolk, and went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the success of stone-curlews nesting on the land he managed.

He has kindly extended permission to the RSPB to use his images to highlightconservation management to other farmers and the wider community. Now retired, he continues to monitor and photograph wildlife on the farm and plays a key role advocating stone-curlew conservation and habitat management to other farmers and landowners throughout the Brecks.


As a keen birdwatcher, I’ve always enjoyed seeing stone-curlews on the farm, and I’m pleased that the farm can provide habitat for farmland birds and other wildlife through the Higher Level Stewardship scheme. The RSPB helped with planning and setting up the scheme, and provides ongoing support with its management.

We’ve had up to four pairs of stone-curlews nesting on the farm, and we have two stone-curlew nest plots. Both sites have attracted nests, and they’ve proved good for other species – this year, we’ve had 25 turtle doves feeding on one of the plots in late summer, most likely attracted by the patches of fumitory growing on the disturbed ground. In addition to the stone-curlew plots, our HLS agreement enabled us to put lots of other measures in place to benefit farm wildlife: we’ve cultivated margins with plenty of fumitory and rare arable plants, like Venus’s-looking-glass and prickly poppy. We have spring and autumn sown bird mix with plants like linseed, millet and quinoa, providing food for finches and buntings.

In recent years, we’ve found that large flocks of tree sparrows and corn buntings have come on the farm as a direct result of the options we’ve taken. This has enabled us to host farm bird walks for the wider community, and Nature Friendly Zone farmers to demonstrate the benefits of agri-environment schemes and wildlife-friendly farming methods.

John Secker, tractor driver

John Secker is a tractor driver and farm worker in the Norfolk Brecks, near Feltwell. The farm is owned by the Cock family, and together they manage 10% of the farm’s 316 hectares of land for stone-curlews and other wildlife. John is an expert nest finder and holds a BTO licence for ringing birds. He goes the extra mile by working with the RSPB to help find stone-curlew nests, and monitors them throughout the breeding season as well as timing farm operations to avoid damaging nests and chicks.

The farm is one of five in the Feltwell and Hockwold area that have come together as part of the Brecks Nature Friendly Zone. This is a knowledge-sharing network of neighbouring farms, each sharing ideas on how best to create and manage habitat for Brecks wildlife.


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Unseen stone-curlew nests on cropped land are at risk from agricultural operations.

I’ve always enjoyed seeing stone-curlews on the farm, and I’m pleased that the farm can provide habitat for farmland birds and other wildlife through the Higher Level Stewardship scheme. John Secker, tractor driver


AcknowledgementsAll of the farmers, landowners and managers who’ve looked after breeding stone-curlews, or created safe nesting habitat for them, deserve a special mention as stone-curlew heroes. Below is a list of people we’d particularly like to thank.

The Brecks Nature Friendly Zone Five farms, in the Feltwell and Hockwold area, have come together to share knowledge, experience and ideas for habitat management; to optimise benefits for wildlife on their neighbouring farms. They are all in an agri-environment scheme and create fallow plots for stone-curlews. The farmers are ambassadors for wildlife-friendly farming and work together to promote the benefit of these farming methods to the wider community by hosting farm walks and public visits.

All other Eastern England farmers, landowners and managers Bernard Abrey, Robert Abrey, Philip Aitken, Wayne Alford, Mr Allingham, Ashton Austin, Mr Barrell, John Barron, Henry Birbeck, Andrew Blois, Sir Charles Blois, Kevin Bowes, Gordon Brown, John Browning, Michael Bushby, Bill Chapman, Robert Childerhouse, Pam Cobbold, van Cutsem family, John Darby, Paul Dickinson, Nathan Enefer, Mr Finch, Stephen Flack, Ron Gabain, Roger Gathercole, Bob Gooderham, the Goucher family, Robert Gough, William Gribbon, Ian Griffin, Stephen Griffiths, Justin Hammond, Charlie Hancock, Stephen Harrison, Kevin Hayhoe, Sarah Henderson, David Hill, Richard Johnston, John Kendall, Louise Knapp, Simon Kroon, Terry Lake, Edmund Lambert, Alan Lee, David Lyles, Duncan Marston, Ian Mason, Jeremy Mason, Dick Mortlock, John Morton, Steve Mumford, Steven Musk, Nick Padwick, Brian Palmer, Julian Palmer, Ralph Parker, John van de Peer, Duncan Pickering, Lee Pilkington, Paul Rackham, John Raker, John Rix, Sir Samuel Roberts, Mr Robinson, Mr M Robinson, Lyndsey Rolfe, Jim Rudderham, Brian Rutterford, Christopher Rutterford, Marcus Rutterford, Tom Sanderson, Jim Scarratt, Trevor Scott, Adrian Searle, Mr Sears, Peter Smith, Andrew Spoor, Richard Stevens, Andrew Steward, Mr Stilgoe, Calum and Jane Thompson,

Frank Tinney, Matthew Unwin, Edward Vipond, Chris Walker, Andy Watling, Brian Watts, James Webb, Andrew Wilson, Mr J Wilson, Mr Winter, James Woodhouse, Andrew Wortley, John Wortley, Paul Wortley, Peter Wright and numerous other farm workers and gamekeepers. Wessex farmers, landowners and managersAntony Allen, Paul Allison, Simon Andrews, E Babey, Peter and Ed Bailey, Trevor Baird, Richard Baker, GB Balding, James Bament, Chris Batchelor, Ian Baxter, John Beacroft, Elizabeth Birkett, Mr and Mrs Boulton, PH and CH Bowerman, Graham Boyt, Norman Bragg, Simon Brennan, Francis Brook, Pip Browning, Claire Bruce, Peveril Bruce, Richard Bruce-White, John and Elizabeth Brunskill, Dan Bull, S Bunney and Sons, Andrew Burchmore, David Burchmore, David Burnfield, D Burroughs, Richard Butler, Ben Butler, James Cameron, Jon Capes, Peter Carlisle, Tim and Jane Carnaghan, William Carr, Tim Carson, Andrew Carter, Charles Cassels, Philip Chamberlain, George Chandler, Arthur Christian, Ian Clarke, Tom Coleman, Henry Collins, S Collins, T Collis, Michael Colston, Chris Combe, MJ, SA and NJ Coombes, Robert Cooper, S P Cooper and Son, Richard Cowan, Daniel Crook, James Crosbie-Dawson, P Crossman, L Cull, Sue and Tim Curnick, Joe Dalton, Murray Dalton, Peter Dalton, Andrew Dancey, NM David, Gavin Davies, Tony Dawkins, Crispin de Pass, Bruce Dean, Philip Denee, R Densham, David Diliston, Francis Dineley, Adrian Dixon, JH Dockray, Mike Doggrell, Bernadette Dowling, Nick Down, Jim Dufosee, Henry Edmunds, John Elliot, Andrew Elliot, John Eliot Gardiner, Richard Ensor, Cathy Featherstone, Caroline Floyd, NW Follett, Roger Forster, Seumas Foster, AR Franklin, CR Frearson, Mark Futcher, RW Gale, Peter Gale, R and James Gates, Simon Gent, Mark Glover, George Gordon,


Richard and Chris Gordon, Richard Gore, Rich and Harry Goring, Andrew Grant, Martin Green, Catrina Guinness, Erskine Guinness, Richard and Jilly Guy, Richard Hadland, Ed Hall, JR Hann, John Harley, Alan Harley, Neil Harley, David and Caroline Harriott, Haydn Harvey, Philip Harvey, Jon Hatt, Mr Hayward, John Hayward, Viscount Head, Tom Helme, Chris Hewitt, SJ Hill, RH Hine, Simon Hiscock, Robert Hitchings, Caroline Holloway, J Hooper, Mike and Nick Hooper, Simon Hope, Geoff Hopkins, Mike Hoppe, Nigel Horne, Stephen and Sue Horton, Jeremy Horton, Rachel Hosier, Neil Hosier, Joss Hosier, Patric Hosier, James Hues, Mark Hues, Joe Iliffe, SC Ingram, Dagan James, AT Jeans, Alastair Jeffry, Anthony W Jepson-Turner, James Kyte, P Lamb, AG Lambert, Julian Lamont, Steve G Langdon, Ivan Leigh, David Lemon, Tony Lowry, Aiden Maitland-Robinson, Tim Mallett, AC Mann, Ian Margetts, Chris Martin, Edward Martin, Micheal Matthews, Christopher and Kenny May, Charles May, Richard May, Charles McCulloch, Colin Mead, Dan Mercer, Paul Millard, Sholto Moger, Wilfred Mole, RP Moore, Sara Morrison, Hugh Morrison, Chris Musgrave, Cameron Naughton, Roger Nichols, Mark Noble, Richard Oram, Gerald Osborne, Matthew Osmond, David Pain, Dermot PM Pakenham, Tim J Palmer, Robin Parsons, I Parsons, D Paterson, Philip Pepler, Laura Phillips, Matthew Pickford, Alan and Theresa Pike, Raleigh Place, Richard Pocock, N Pond, N Pope, M Potter, Robert Pottow, NE Pratt, Richard Price, Andrew Proctor, Guy Rasch, Simon Rasch, Henry Rawlins, Ted and Shirley Ray, Matthew Read, M and G Read, Andrew Reis, J Reynell, LJ Rice, Simon Robinson, Charlie Rowlands, Nick Rowsell, Charles Rudler, Ed Ryder, James Sadler, Patrick Sarsfield-Hall, Philip Sawkill, Julian Sayers, Frances Seymour, Peter Shallcross, Rob Shepherd, David Sheppard, VE Sidford, Philip Simmonds, JA Smail, Ben Smith, N and M Snell, FJ Snook, James Spencer, John and Edwina Spicer, David Stevens, Margaret Stone, Richard Strang, Josh Stratton, Charles Street, James Strong, Jonathan Sykes, Vikki Taylor, M Taylor, Mrs Thompson, JH Thorne, RE Thorne, Martin Tory, Nick Tory, John Tremlett, Mike Tristram, Rob Turner, David Ullyott, WM Vernon, Bruce Waight, Neil Walker, William Wallis, Philip E Walters, R Waters, Joe White, David White, Peter White, M Whitehead,

James Wigan, Alistair Wilson, Mark Woods, Derek Woodvine, Gerald Woodvine, Nigel Wookey, JR Woolley, Andrew Woolley, Giles Wordsworth, NH Yeatman-Biggs, J Young, John Young.

We would also like to acknowledge the passionate and dedicated staff from the following organisations who have played a vital part in the recovery of stone-curlews in the UKBritish Trust for Ornithology, Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Forestry Commission, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Great Bustard Group, Ministry of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down, Defra, The National Trust, Natural England, Norfolk and Suffolk Constabulary, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Plantlife, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Wiltshire Council, Wiltshire Police, Wessex Water.

Volunteers and other individuals who have made a personal contribution Nick Adams, Jeff Baker, Geoff Barlow, Chris Batey, Jemma Batten, Keith Betton, Chris Booth, Charlotte Bruce-White, Neil Calbrade, Paul Castle, Jackie Crickett, Tim Culley, Richard Drew, Paul Eele, Simon Evans, Peter Feakes, Sarah Gelpke, Dave and Penny Green, Ian Grier, Paul Holness, Huntley Hedworth, Michael Holdsworth, Adam Hudson, Ed Keeble, Shane King, Andy Law, John Noel, Andy Palmer, Ben Potterton, Tony Prater, Simon Smart, Barry Stalker, James Symonds, Alin Tarca, Cliff Waller, Mark Wessels, Tracé Williams, Malcolm Wright, Roger Wyatt. Groups South Wilts RSPB members group, Woodbridge and Chelmsford RSPB local members groups.

The funders The stone-curlew recovery programme was previously funded by Action for Birds in England. This publication has been funded by EU LIFE, as part of the four year project “Securing the future of the stone-curlew throughout its range in the UK”.


The RSPB stone-curlew recovery programme has previously been funded by Natural England under Defra, RSPB members, Sita Trust, Chris Knights and Greene King.

The RSPB is a registered charity in England & Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654. Front and back cover images by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com) 020-1-1332-16-17

The RSPB has put together protocols to help you to help stone-curlews safely and within the law.

Licences are administered by Natural England and the BTO, and you must hold one before carrying out any surveying or ringing of stone-curlews which are specially protected under part 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Monitoring and protecting stone-curlews causes disturbance to the birds. Therefore, you must have proper training and licences to undertake this work.

To find out how you can help, go to rspb.org.uk/stonecurlew and click on the conservation link for up to date information on schemes near you.

Find out more For more information on the RSPB LIFE project “Securing the future of the stone-curlew throughout its range in the UK”, see: rspb.org.uk/securingthestonecurlew

Stone-curlew heroes Booklet_ONLINE... · 2017. 6. 27. · Stone-curlew heroes 3 Foreword They found...

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