Countryside Alliance Ireland call for Voluntary Moratorium on Shooting of Curlew

Sparks

From the CAI website:

Voluntary Moratorium on Shooting of Curlew



Countryside Alliance Ireland is calling for voluntary restraint from the shooting of Curlew this hunting season. As many of you are aware, Countryside Alliance Ireland, in partnership with the Irish Red Grouse Association, has been conducting a survey of resident Curlew numbers in the Republic of Ireland, focusing mainly in the Cavan, Monaghan and Leitrim areas.

The aim of the survey is to inform the NPWS and Bird Watch Ireland as to the population of resident Curlew in these areas. As the count continues it is apparent that the inclement spring and summer weather has had an effect on ground nesting birds and their ability to rear new chicks. This, along with the increased predation on ground nesting birds, has led us to call for this moratorium on shooting curlew for the 2012 season.

continued...

Cass

Do many people even shoot Curlew?

terminator2

never shot a curlew in my life

rabbit assassin

I've never shot one, dont know of anyone that has. I have heard they taste horrible though

Cass

Same as both the above. Never shot one,and don't even know anyone that has. Not to say it doesn't happen, but i think most hunters don't bother.

Birdnuts

Ezridax wrote: »

Same as both the above. Never shot one,and don't even know anyone that has. Not to say it doesn't happen, but i think most hunters don't bother.

Same here - even though I get a good few on my place in the West during the winter(presumebly migrants from abroad). I only ever met one lad who actually ate one and as others have mentioned, it tasted like a mouthfull of estuary mud:p. I remember this being discussed on here before and the general consensus was that few if any are shot by hunters in this country. Its land drainage, mink and bad summers over the past few decades that has done for the Irish breeding population.:(

marlin vs

I shot a pair of them about 40 years ago, they stank the house out of it when I cooked them and they tasted the same as they smelled,so I never shot one since,at this stage even if they were nice to eat I wouldn't shoot one I love to hear their call in the evenings.

EPointer=Birdss

Never have never will.
Would be interested in a poll Mods?
Of all the lads on here who has ever shot one, who would, who has & who hasn't in donkeys years as a failed experiment once they tasted em!
I'd be curious as to if shooting is a contributing factor or is more pollution, bad weather & mink doing it. we'd get an idea from here...

Sparks

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Would be interested in a poll Mods?

Go for it (might be easier as a seperate thread though)

mallards

I shot one about four or five years ago on a very stormy day at the coast. In my defense, I have them breeding on my ground and the place I was shooting has an influx of vast flocks of curlew every year, so I was surprised to find out they are declining. Now I wouldn't shoot another, even if it was still legal here.

EPointer=Birdss

mallards wrote: »

I shot one about four or five years ago on a very stormy day at the coast. In my defense, I have them breeding on my ground and the place I was shooting has an influx of vast flocks of curlew every year, so I was surprised to find out they are declining. Now I wouldn't shoot another, even if it was still legal here.

Not to derail the thread Mallards but that looks a bit of a set up you have there.
Is that a fox to the left?

Sparks - howd you go about setting up a poll?

mallards

EPointer=Birdss wrote:

Not to derail the thread Mallards but that looks a bit of a set up you have there.
Is that a fox to the left?

It's a red stag mount EP. The picture was taken at the taxidermist when I picked it up. His name is David Irwin, a young lad from the north and his stuff really is outstanding.
http://www.dirwin-taxidermy.co.uk/

Mallards

daithi55

wouldnt mind shooting one to try it and see what it tastes like
might leave it till next year now as seeing theres low numbers been reported this year

Blackstairs Mountain Man

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Never have never will.
Would be interested in a poll Mods?
Of all the lads on here who has ever shot one, who would, who has & who hasn't in donkeys years as a failed experiment once they tasted em!
I'd be curious as to if shooting is a contributing factor or is more pollution, bad weather & mink doing it. we'd get an idea from here...

I think loss of habitat is being cited as the main reason. Shooting would be the least of the reasons. I suppose mink contribute as well but main reason is habitat loss.

Sparks

The NARGC is calling for curlew hunting to be made illegal (it says released on the 24th but it only showed up on facebook today and I can't find it on the NARGC website):

NARGC Requests Minister to Remove the Curlew from the
Open (Hunting) Seasons Order

Ireland’s largest game shooting and conservation organisation, the National Association of Regional Game Councils (NARGC), has requested the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan TD, to remove the curlew from the open seasons order of species that can be hunted in the Republic of Ireland.

Although the curlew is an abundant migratory species in Ireland, recent evidence suggests that there are likely to be fewer than 200 breeding pairs, representing a 96 percent population decline of the species in Ireland. A European management plan for curlew has recognised that its widespread decline has been caused by the fragmentation and loss of habitat, compounded by un-sustainable levels predation during the breeding season of curlew.

In Ireland, the breeding habitats for curlew are mainly peatlands and wet grasslands. However, these have been continually damaged as a result of afforestation, agricultural intensification and a lack of any management. Following the completion of a major nine-year scientific study, scientists in the UK’s Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) have also established that the control of common predators such as grey crows and foxes significantly improves, by more than three times, the breeding success of curlew, lapwing and golden plover.

According to the NARGC Director, Des Crofton: “The curlew has not featured strongly in recent NARGC bag return data, however, we are asking the Minister, in light of the latest scientifically assessed population estimates and in line with the principles of hunting quarry species in a sustainable manner, to remove the curlew from the open seasons order”.

The NARGC is also calling on the Government Department responsible for species conservation, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, to evaluate the impacts of predators on threatened ground-nesting birds of conservation concern in Ireland. Des Crofton added: “It is no surprise that two pairs of curlew in Roscommon and two pairs in Donegal are using locations where the control of North American mink, foxes, grey crows and magpies is taking place. This evidence suggests that Gun Clubs may be playing a key role in the conservation of the diminishing breeding curlew population in Ireland. In order to reverse the decline of breeding curlew and other threatened ground-nesting birds in Ireland, we need to find out exactly what is limiting their breeding success. The Government should now take the initiative to fund a comprehensive scientific study on the effects of predators on ground-nesting birds”.

Des Crofton added: “The NARGC is willing to work with a range of conservation organisations to restore the breeding curlew population in Ireland. Our members are currently working hard to reverse the declines of local red grouse populations and grey partridge, an activity which is highly compatible with the conservation of breeding curlew”.

Issued on the 24th August 2012

pugw

I shot one once for bait for a trap, wouldnt do it again though, there is an eerie call when a flock of them get up on a bog!

terminator2

if you can save the red grouse , curlew numbers will increase