A Nidderdale landowner has been awarded a grant to set up a curlew conservation project.
Clive White, who has farmed in Darley for 35 years, received the grant from the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme run by Nidderdale AONB.
The programme is funded by the government’s Agricultural Transition Plan.
It supports schemes that promote nature recovery, mitigate the impacts of climate change, provide better access or engagement with the land, or increase the business resilience of nature friendly farms.
The Darley Beck Curlew Project will aim to reduce curlew egg and chick losses to predators and farming techniques.
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Farmers who have signed up will permit bird surveyors to perform studies on their land on the success of curlew breeding in the area and the effects of predation and farming activities, such as silage.
They will then consult to find out what needs to be done to help the curlews and how much it will cost.
Mr White said;
“Most of the farmers who have joined this cluster, especially the older ones, have noticed the decline in curlew numbers over the last three or four decades and are willing to find out how they might be able to help reverse this decline.”
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He will be working in partnership with Nidderdale’s FIPL officer, Matthew Trevelyan, who said;
“As a farmer, I know that if these projects are farmer-led, it will be of great advantage. My experience of this fund to date is that, with a little imagination and passion, it can be used to support brilliant and realistic projects that partner farmers with ecologists and conservation organisations.”
Curlews have been listed as ‘near threatened’ on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species since 2008.
Participants aim to have the conservation project up and running in time for this year’s breeding season.
