Things you need to know about CURLEWS!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you for watching this video and taking a look at the comments! If you would like to support me to make even more videos, please consider my Patreon which can be found here> www.patreon.com/ashotofwildlife Cheers.

[@lilyroseshandmade6525]

Enjoyed seeing the curlew. They’re beautiful birds. Love their call.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you!

[@johnpark8297]

Thank you for posting this Liam, top work👍

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers John!

[@dd7521]

We've seen and heard many curlews in the Yorkshire Dales (but a long time ago.) Such beautiful birds with a haunting call. ❤

[@Spacey7]

Very interesting. Thank you Liam 😊

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you for watching!

[@JenP386]

thank you Liam I do enjoy your video such a great watch

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed this and my sparrowhawk video. Im now working on the next which isnt a fact file but hopefully you will enjoy that too.

[@lin462]

My favourite wading bird. I love the different sounds they make, such magical birds.👍

[@jf2613]

Search for a song called The Princess and the Sky Goat by Banco de Gaia. Nice curlew sounds in it.

[@lin462]

@@jf2613 Thanks

[@paulwarner5674]

Now this is a bird I know I've seen.❤

[@williamrobinson7435]

Always something to learn here, f'rinstance I never would've guessed that a curlew could live for over 30 years.. Nice one Liam! ⭐👍

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks William! I am glad these videos are helpful. I love learning more about wildlife as I research the facts I include in them.

[@korosu2204]

Just starting bird watching. Don't know why it took me so long to find out I would love this hobby. Love your videos. Excellent footage, crisp clear narration great info on all your videos. Straight to the point. Ur my go to guy lol 😆

[@acjones225]

They are in number on the Dee estuary and along the coast of North Wakes. Love seeing them I always wondered why they are in the field behind my house in spring/summer 😅 now I know ! Great video , cheers

[@ASChambers]

Thanks again for such a lovely video. I do enjoy your gentle, relaxed style.

[@philiptaylor7902]

Lovely video Liam, the call of the curlew is one of the most evocative sounds in nature.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers! I am off up to the coast this weekend so hopefully I will hear it in the flesh for the first time this year!

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

When I was young we used to often see curlews in the fields around our village and their cry was very familiar, but now I only see them on the higher hills or in the Yorkshire Dales.

[@jonm7272]

Same here in mid-Wales. Used to hear them down on the farmland when I was young but now only see them up on the high moors here in Powys in the summer.

[@timroot4207]

Thank you !!!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

You're welcome, Thank you for watching!

[@celestenova777]

Beautiful birds, see them down the harbour now and then, shame they are on the decline. Thanks Liam, lovely vid.

[@gailpeters4173]

I love the sound of these birds ,so peaceful

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers!

[@coecludd]

Thanks for another informative video. I saw a Curlew two days ago 😊

[@Joejoe-fd4ic]

Love the male singing at mateing season

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers. I'm hoping to get up north this spring so hopefully I will hear it first hand this year!

[@brentnearhood8874]

Thanks! Liam 🪶

[@MarinaHolistica]

Love how you filmed these birds in the meadows. Magical! Thanks

[@Compo67]

Thank you Liam for another top notch fact file video. They must take a lot of work to produce . What an impressive bird, and so specialised. It’s call has gotta be the one that reminds us of a remote sea fresh estuary! Such a wild call 👍☺️🙏

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers! Finding and filming all the footage is probably the hardest part of making these videos but the idea is that they're equivalent to a couple of pages of a wildlife guide book, supported with relevant footage. Thanks for always watching and i'll see you in the next one!

[@Compo67]

@@AShotOfWildlife thanks for the insight Liam behind the scenes on how you research. Far better than I could ever do hence this is why I watch your videos and those of other wildlife enthusiasts. Everyone plays to their own strengths that’s why I appreciate the efforts you guys make with these videos. 👍☺️🙏

[@AShotOfWildlife]

@Compo67 thanks Steve. People like you watching and enjoying, makes it worthwhile. Cheers

[@horusfalcon]

Nicely done, lad. They are beautiful, and remind me somewhat of an ibis. I'm glad to hear of the captive breeding program, and hope it helps restore their numbers.

[@mattgoodchild8215]

Fantastic video thanks for sharing One of my fave birds sadly as you say are on the decline I’ve not seen one in my area for decades and there used to be many 😢

[@archiebald4717]

Beautiful birds.

[@Jaded-Wanderer]

Another great video

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed it!

[@jpronan8757]

Another great video Liam 👍 I'll have to keep an eye out for these beauties next time I find myself south.

[@nancysmith-baker1813]

There neat . Thankyou .

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers, thank you for watching!

[@nancysmith-baker1813]

@@AShotOfWildlife your welcome and thankyou .

[@trevormatthews7981]

There is Curlew Mountain in Co Sligo, Ireland

[@alanjust]

Thanks yet again Liam. Beautiful birds especially in flight. I live in the south of France and we very occasionally see them on the flats around the mouth of the Rhone in the Carmargue. Habitat is a big issue for many waders now isn’t it.

[@MarkPearce-u7m]

I was working in Darlington in the mid '90s, a colleague and I ventured out to visit Tan Hill, (highest elevated pub in England). Driving through the narrow road uphill amongst vast grassland I saw my first and so far only curlew! Amazing.

[@rosemarygilman8718]

Thank you so much. I love all of your videos!

[@tamjammy4461]

Ta again Liam. Good to see you choosing curlew . They're definitely one of my top birds, not least because they have one of the most distinctive calls . They're one of the first birds which i could recognise by their call , and this was helped by the fact that theyre big enough for a beginner to spot them relatively easily (as opposed to all the " little brown jobs" which i found almost impossible to begin with....and still struggle with ) and by the way they frequently call whilst circling overhead. Ps. Off topic here, but "got" my waxwings in Leighton Buzzard yesterday. Near McDonald's in case anyone's interested. Light wasnt great, but still beautiful birds.

[@kaymorrice8141]

Fascinating!

[@ErgonBill]

In Australia we have a species called the Bush stone-curlew. Quite dissimilar to these though, being shot beaked, long legged, mainly nocturnal birds which have a blood curdling call. Check them out. I've had them attack my legs in pitch dark without warning protecting their chicks. Scared the crap out of me - I thought it was a drop bear and prepared to die.

[@sewmad1400]

We also have the Eastern Curlew which looks much like these fellas.

[@JPLamoureuxsTravels]

Great vid buddy, the call always always warms my heart 😊 love watching them and what they pull out of the mud and soil with their bills ❤ top stuff bud !!!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks JP. Im off up to Titchwell this weekend so hopefully I will see some on that trip, they're always great to spot!

[@patricianunes3521]

Happy New Year. A great start with a great video

[@kevingodding9316]

Great Video 👍👍👍👍👍

[@observersnt]

One of the most evocative bird calls. I live in the middle of nowhere and twenty four years ago I spent many summer evenings watching and listening to them in the moorland on the other side of my garden wall. Now, it’s unusual to see or hear them. The “wise” that instigated protection of birds of prey have done so at the great expense of ground nesting birds. There is one place that used to be infested with lapwings in breeding season, a place I drive past regularly. I have not seen a lapwing ther for the last two years. The habitat is totally unchanged here. But English Nature intimidate and persecute gamekeepers that once tried to control the hundreds of black headed gulls that come here to breed. They patrol the moorland and it is common to see them take off with chicks of ground nesters. These people, mainly college trained and overpaid have little real understanding of old country ways. They come armed with laws and very well equipped to prosecute which they do with great enthusiasm. They can’t be told anything, you see they know everything. Old school gamekeepers, countrymen born and bred had a much greater understanding of nature than these. Only when it’s too late will we understand the ex damage done by mere ideologies

[@verbaiva]

Louis Stevenson's Heather Ale A Galloway Legend brought me here to see a curlews birds Stevenson mentioned in that great poem! Thank you for the lovely video. Sad, mother nature ,fauna suffer these days.

[@jimbojet8728]

Thank you. A distinctive call, it could sound a bit ‘Curliiiiw!! Don’t you think?

[@AShotOfWildlife]

You're welcome. I dont hear it at all to be honest... but people interpret noises differently. I have a friend who is polish and recently she tried to make a cats meow as it would be in her language, it was nothing at all like a meow noise lol.

[@WildwoodTV]

Love curlews

[@missapippin9020]

This is amazing my daughter who lives in the UK sent a photograph of a curlew yesterday and then your video pops up what a coincidence. They are certainly beautiful birds. Thank you Liam for another informative video and a very Happy New Year to you and your family.

[@petelumley1578]

Nice one Liam

[@debbiestaveley6752]

Thank you so much for your information on the curlew. My Merlin app picked up the sound of some near where I live in Portishead, there appeared to be lots of them out on the mud flats, so it was great to find out more about term

[@chandraathithan11]

Super

[@cianmacleod5701]

Great video once again, Liam. Also is that the Breydon Waters Haunt I see you are in there? It’s my local reserve and I love visiting whenever I can especially over the winter months when the wintering birds join us. Perhaps one day I’ll see you there! Take care.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Well spotted, I did wonder if anyone would recognise where I was. It was the wrong tide during that visit so not much to see, but I am moving closer to that area soon so will probably be in there more often, and elsewhere locally. Cheers

[@gerrimilner9448]

i think the name must have come from the bill!

[@clarsach29]

Really interested to hear you use the word "aforestation", not something I have heard about before. How much of a threat is poorly-managed (or even well-managed) aforestation to wildlife populations in the UK? Are we trying TOO hard to reforest areas when we shouldn't be?

[@mygooseshrine]

I guess he is reefring to the monocultural conifer plnatations.

[@stephenmcg4299]

Nice video, Liam. As always. Can anyone tell me what the small birds are at 4:24, please?

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you. That clip is one of the creative commons clips I used so I am not 100% on all of the birds there (its from outside of the UK) but I belive they are mostly Lesser Sand Plovers and Turnstones.

[@stephenmcg4299]

@@AShotOfWildlife Lesser sand plover, eh? That’s a new one for me. What a lovely little bird. Thanks, Liam.

[@peterjdo]

The bird with the stripe on their eyes I think is a wheatear

[@patricksmith4424]

Over new year I saw a curlew on the banks of the Mersey estuary, wirral, it was fairly close so got a good view. But then again was it a Wimberal? This vid definately clarified the difference, the black eye stripe would be a good identifier. Interesting to know whether the Wimberal is suffering the same decline as the curlew. Curlews are also a bit different for coastal waders in that they go in land more, there are quite a few around the North Yorkshire moors.

[@doubles6508]

No way! Saw one today for the first time in years. What a coincidence

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Perfect timing!

[@jeremystill5442]

👍👍👍👍👍 Nice vid

[@timnewton9422]

I've just watched a pair harassing our resident buzzard, I'm keen to learn more, great information thanks. BTW Northern lake district

[@jeanettetorelli259]

They are in Australia also. I just heard one in SE. Queensland.

[@ghengis430]

An old farmer i knew called them peewits, or as he pronounced it pewwits( like church pew) . Theyre building houses in a local spot, where they live, ( not clever on marshes) , despite opposition. Thanks for that though, it was really interesting.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Oh wow. I have heard lapwings called Peewits but have never heard the name being used for Curlews. I bet that has caused some confusion in the past. Thank you for watching!

[@gav1nwood]

Have you done/ can you do an all you need to know about nuthatches please. After twelve years here a couple have just found our bride feeders. Thanks 👍

[@AShotOfWildlife]

I havent done one yet, I will see if theres enough footage available and if there is, I will definitely make one soon. Thanks.

[@billykershaw2781]

Saw a pair fly up Weardale, 12/01/25....❤️

[@coecludd]

Hi Liam, thanks for the info on Curlews. I see them where I live from time to time. I wanted to ask you about Black Swans. We had a visit by a family of four where we live for the last few days. I know they are originally from Australia, but I’ve never seen them before in the wild before (I love a long the south coast). Any info would be gratefully appreciated. Many thanks.

[@rontheretiredone]

West Yorkshire used to be the home for many curlews, but the massive influx of red kites has all but put them on the endangered list.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

I am not sure it can be blamed entirely (if at all) on the recolonization of red kites. Curlew have declined drastically here in Norfolk and for most areas here, red kites are still a very rare sight.

[@rontheretiredone]

Red kites are more common than sparrows here in North Leeds! I enjoy the vids, keep them coming, xx

[@NielsPoulsen]

I hunt migrant waterfowl at a mud flat fjord in Denmark. Its a lot of cold and wet hours in a lay out boat. I always love just watching the curlews and the Call is comforting

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Do you hunt them for food or sport?

[@billykershaw2781]

We got Egret at Low Barns , came in about 2018(?)

[@neilbain8736]

I've heard that call before and got it confused with oystercatchers, particularly if I couldn't see the source!

[@Animals-r1n]

Nice

[@paulohara1502]

👏👍😊🥰

[@auldfouter8661]

You need to know that the Scottish name for the curlew is the whaup !

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you!

[@peteredwardmason6205]

You always start these videos with the phrase "almost everything you need to know about.." like there's some secret you're keeping from us. What are you hiding Liam? Are you in league with Big Bird?

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Haha, well.... I used to start by saying "Everything you need to know about" but a few people disagreed and wanted to know more or thought I had missed things out. So I started saying "Almost" with a lot of emphasis to cover all basis.

[@WvhKerkhof]

Not much info that I need to know. 90% decline in 2024 since 2016 in the area where I live, Netherlands North Coast.