World Curlew Day at Upton and elsewhere

World Curlew Day was celebrated on 21 April. Listen to Mary Colwell being interviewed on the Radio 4 Today Programme on 21 April. Available to listen to until 20 May 2018. Interview starts at 1:17:40.

Here is an excellent video of courting Curlews made by Billy Clapham in the Shropshire hills:

To celebrate World Curlew Day on Saturday 21 April, residents of Upton on Severn and members of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society gathered on Upton Ham alongside the Severn, with the support of the Upton Town Council and the Upton Ham Owners Association. The Ham is the best botanical site alongside the Severn and has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest by Natural England. Among those present was Mary Colwell who had just given an interview about World Curlew Day to BBC Radio 4.

Now that the recent floods had gone down, the spring vegetation was coming along, notably the carpet of Ladies’ Smock or Cuckoo Flower; a Cuckoo duly obliged with its spring song, and two pairs of Curlews were seen, apparently preparing to nest.

Upton is one of the classic riverside hay meadows which, through maintenance of their traditional farming regime, provide nesting habitat for Curlews and other ground-nesting birds like Skylarks.

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