Meet Rich Bunce, professional photographer and workshop leader!

Rich Bunce is a professional photographer and workshop leader with over 15 years of commercial experience. In recent years his photography work has moved towards conservation commissions, working with a variety conservation charities and rewilding projects, including several commissions for Curlew Action. His passion for being outdoors and walking led him to set up his education business Walking Photography (www.walkingphotographer.co.uk), providing organised walks and photography workshops for over 10 years. Rich can be contacted at info@walkingphotographer.co.uk and on social media at @richbunce on X and @walkingphotographer on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

The Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata is a widely distributed bird that can be spotted in as far-reaching places as Siberia, Africa, the Middle East and everywhere in between, including Yorkshire. In fact, for Yorkshire, this large and distinctive wader has become somewhat of a celebrated icon. Farms, coffee shops, cottages, golf courses, roadside services, and even estate agents are just some examples of Yorkshire-based organisations incorporating this charismatic bird as part of their identity.

Despite, and maybe because, of its wide distribution, the troubling decline of our largest wader has for a long time evaded public consciousness. Tragically, of the many dangers facing Eurasian Curlew (and there are many), maybe it’s the general assumption that they are doing ‘OK’ that remains their biggest threat. As long-lived birds (typically around 11 years, with the longest recorded being 32 years), and with numbers boosted by migration in the winter, they can be a familiar sight across Yorkshire. Thus, it’s easy to see how the (wrong) assumption that there is no need to be concerned about the Curlew is made.

With an almost cataclysmic breeding success rate (producing half the number of chicks needed for a stable population across Europe) and a 48% decline in the United Kingdom between 1995 and 2020, this unique wader has found itself ominously on BirdLife International’s Red List. Yet, the UK remains a precarious stronghold for Curlew, providing habitat for around a quarter of the global population. With hefty declines in the south of England and Wales, Yorkshire has become highly significant for the country’s breeding population.

*Using bill length to identify between sexes can be useful but is trickier than it sounds in the field. (c) Richard Bunce*

Sporting an 89-106cm wingspan, long neck, and even longer bill, it’s one of the most identifiable (and exciting) shapes to be seen crossing the Yorkshire skyline, that long, decurved bill being its most identifiable and captivating feature. It’s tempting to imagine the bill as a useful but nerveless protrusion, not unlike a long fingernail. However, the bill is extraordinarily sensitive with the tip of its beak packed with nerve fibres, enabling the Curlew to detect the slightest indication of prey.

The length and angle of the bill is thought to enable them to reach prey items that other species cannot. The female’s bill is around 18% longer than a male's and it’s suggested that this difference helps minimise food competition between a pair. This can also prove a useful way to identify between sexes in the field.

Many parts of Yorkshire (for now at least) enjoy seeing and hearing Eurasian Curlews year-round. Winter brings a peak to British Curlew numbers. While the largest populations tend to be found at iconic coastal locations such as The Wash in Norfolk and Lancashire’s Morecambe Bay, Yorkshire also hosts noticeable flocks of overwintering Curlew. While many stick to coastal and estuary areas, a surprising amount can be spotted inland. Yorkshire’s inland fields, floodplains and wetlands are also a key, yet under-researched, habitat for Curlews during winter.

As winter loosens its grip, the wintering flocks disperse and are replaced by smaller groups, ultimately couples looking to breed. This is when that uplifting and, for some, nostalgic ‘bubbling’ call can be heard, heralding the arrival of spring, as returning Curlews survey and claim their breeding patch. Curlews are generally partner and site faithful, so if you’re lucky enough to see breeding Curlews year after year, there’s a fair chance they are the same pair.

In the same vein, it could be tempting to think that Yorkshire’s wintering flocks are the same birds that breed here in spring. While that may be true for the odd case, recent GPS data from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) suggests that a good number of the Curlews GPS tagged in the Yorkshire Dales overwinter in the west of Ireland, before returning to the Yorkshire Dales for the subsequent breeding season.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a significant area for breeding Curlew. In recent years the park authority has worked together with the BTO and local landowners on an innovative research project to gain a greater understanding of the Curlews that breed, while identifying the threats they face.

GPS tagging

Dr Samantha Franks (left) & Dr Katharine Bowgen carefully applying a GPS tag to a curlew in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Curlew nest

A typical curlew nest beginning to hatch, photographed under supervision with a licensed BTO fieldworker.

Curlew chick

A young Curlew chick.

In 2024 Curlew Action hosted the first ever European Curlew Field Workers Conference. During the two-day event, field and conservation workers from across Europe came together to share their experiences in trying to reverse the decline of Curlews and other ground-nesting birds.

Threats highlighted during the event included nest predation, intensive land management practices, afforestation, urban development, and climate change - all threats that Yorkshire’s population also face.

Any Curlew fieldworker will tell you that their nests are notoriously difficult to locate, something that folklore has attributed to the legend of St Bueno (545-650 AD). The story goes that a Curlew rescued the saint’s prayer book after it fell into the sea, and Bueno subsequently blessed the bird and called for its protection. It is no coincidence that the 21st of April is not only World Curlew Day but also the feast day of St Bueno, the patron saint of Curlew!

Curlew nests are formed as a small grassy indentation, shaped by the bird pressing down and rotating on the vegetation. Typically, a nest will contain four olive-coloured eggs with a generous splattering of darker brown marks, all laid in a plus shape with the narrow parts of the egg pointing towards the centre. The eggs are then incubated for around a month by both parents prior to hatching.

Curlew are a precocial species, meaning they’re relatively mobile from the moment of hatching. Despite this mobility, it will take between four and five weeks before they’re able to fly, making them vulnerable to a plethora of threats, from predators to silage cutting.

In recent years, thanks to a number of awareness campaigns, the plight of the Curlew has become more recognised among the public and landowners alike, with land workers doing more and more to help change the iconic wader’s fortunes. Only time will tell if enough can be done.