Together with the ManxSPCA, Manx BirdLife is raising awareness of the Isle of Man’s native wild birds and the issues that face them.

From time to time this article showcases some of the island’s iconic bird species - where to see them, how to identify them and why they are so important.

This week we are focussing entirely on the endangered curlew.

The curlew is one of a group of 13 species of wading bird across the world known as the ’numeniini’.

This name is derived from the Greek for ’new moon’, alluding to the arc of the curlew’s long curved bill.

Sadly, more than half of these 13 species are threatened with extinction. Two are probably already extinct: Europe’s slender-billed curlew and the eskimo curlew of the Americas.

Our own Eurasian curlew (to give its full name) is ’red-listed’ as being of grave conservation concern. Since 1990, curlew numbers in our part of the world have halved.

On the Isle of Man, we could soon lose the curlew as a breeding bird.

You’re probably familiar with the curlew’s evocative onomatopoeic ’cur-liuuweee’ call.

Hearing it is often the first indication there are curlews about. You can hear curlews in spring and summer on moors, uplands and hills.

While in autumn and winter, it’s a familiar sound around our coasts.

At this time of year, our island’s modest wintering population is swelled by birds from the British Isles and southern Europe which have begun to fly north for the summer.

These early migrants use the island as a feeding and resting stop on their way to breeding grounds in Scotland, Iceland, Europe and Russia.

During March, flocks of up to 300 curlew can be seen.

Langness and Derbyhaven host flocks that can easily be seen from public viewpoints. Try looking out from the Madoc Memorial at Langness as an incoming tide brings the birds into close view along the shore.

A group of Curlews is known as a ’curfew’, ’salon’, or ’skein’.

With its mottled brown plumage, long legs and distinctive down-curved bill, Europe’s largest wading bird is easy to recognise.

That extraordinary bill can probe deeper into mud and soil to find worms and other invertebrates than that of any other wading bird.

But beware!

A curlew’s plumage offers great camouflage in its favoured habitats of coastal mudflats, seaweed-strewn rocks, grass and moorlands. For a large bird, it can be surprisingly hard to see.

The only other brown wading bird with a down-curved bill seen in the Isle of Man is the Whimbrel.

This smaller, shorter-billed, shorter-legged cousin of the curlew sports a distinctive brown-and-white striped head pattern. Unlike Curlews, Whimbrels are extremely scarce on the Island outside their mid-April to May spring migration through the island.

The typical lifespan of a curlew is five years.

The longest recorded living curlew was 32 years old!

As recently as 2000, there were an estimated 450 pairs of curlew breeding in the Isle of Man. Today, the number of birds staying to nest is much reduced.

On moors, moist meadows and pastures, a small cup-like nest - known as a ’scrape’ - is made on the ground.

Three to six pear-shaped eggs are laid from which the chicks will hatch after four weeks.

They will roam flightless around the nest site with their parents for four more weeks until fledging.

The curlew’s ground-nesting habits make it both highly vulnerable and a highly sensitive indicator of the state of our environment. It faces many threats.

Disturbance by people and uncontrolled dogs causes abandonment of nests.

Agricultural activity and outdoor pursuits cause inadvertent destruction of eggs and chicks.

Predation by longtails, domestic cats and non-native feral species such as polecats, as well as disturbance by goats and wallabies, all take their toll. And all the time, more and more habitat is drained or ’improved’, lost to development and intensification of agriculture.

If we are to continue enjoying the sight and sound of curlews on the island, we must act soon before it is too late.

For more information, call Michelle on 861130, email [email protected] or visit www.manxbirdlife.im.