#curlew

Thermal drone finds chicks before grass cutting

A bird protection charity has been using a thermal drone to find and protect chicks before farmers cut grass in their fields.

Eurasian Curlew or Common Curlew (Numenius arquata) 

Cumbria-based Curlew Recovery South Lakes said it had so far found six curlew nests using the drone, and a total of 32 nests overall. The birds are a red-listed endangered species in the UK and declining due to poor breeding success, the charity said. Farmer and charity volunteer George Taylor, from Crook, said: "If farmers think there may be a curlew nest or chicks in a field due to be cut, please contact us as soon as possible." Curlews lay their eggs in a nest on the ground known as a "scrape", according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. They incubate the eggs for about four weeks, then the hatched chicks spend a further four weeks with their parents until fledging.

A Shorebird Ashore