Helping Curlews Take Flight: What We’re Learning from Headstarting Projects

A new review looks at how “headstarting” - raising Eurasian Curlew chicks in captivity before releasing them into the wild - is being used across Europe to support this much-loved wading bird.

Between 2014 and 2023, over 2,400 Curlew eggs were collected by 11 projects in five countries. Of these, around 1,300 chicks were successfully reared and released - a 73% hatching rate and 77% release rate for hatched chicks.

Chicks were typically released near wild breeding areas, often in farmland or wetlands, and kept in pens for at least a week to acclimatise. Projects used colour rings and GPS tags to monitor the birds.

So far, 107 of the 1,048 chicks released before 2023 are known to have survived for at least a year, and 36 have gone on to nest. However, the true success rate could be higher, as only a few projects carried out long-term tracking.

Health issues in chicks were common, but varied widely and didn’t stop many from reaching the release stage. A key takeaway from the review is that while headstarting helps get more eggs and chicks through the high-risk early stages, we still don’t fully understand what happens after release.

The authors call for more consistent monitoring and long-term support to understand the full impact of this conservation approach.

Takeaway: For moorland managers and rural communities, headstarting shows promise - but long-term tracking is needed to see if these birds return and thrive where they belong.

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