The curlew – with its haunting call and sweeping bill – has declined by 60% in the UK over the past 25 years. Conservationists are now debating whether culling foxes, which prey on curlew eggs and chicks, could be the bird’s last hope. But focusing on predators alone is a sticking-plaster solution.
The real drivers of decline lie deeper: intensive farming that destroys nests with heavy machinery, landscapes emptied of top predators such as lynx and eagles, and artificial food supplies from game shooting that fuel booming fox and crow populations. By isolating the curlew as the “patient” and the fox as the “disease,” we miss the larger truth: ecosystems are webs, not straight lines.
Conservation that targets a single species risks unravelling elsewhere. Cull foxes today, and tomorrow another imbalance will emerge. Instead, we need system-wide restoration:
Rewilding apex predators to naturally regulate mesopredators.
Reforming farming practices to protect ground-nesting birds during breeding season.
Restoring diverse habitats so curlews and countless other species thrive.
Nature works in wholes. The decline of the curlew is not just a bird problem – it is a symptom of broken ecological systems. By rethinking conservation as a process of healing landscapes, not just saving mascots, we stand a chance of bringing back balance.
At LettsSafari, this is our guiding principle. We don’t just plant a tree or protect a single animal. We rewild entire parks – letting woodlands, wetlands and meadows recover together. Because when ecosystems flourish, curlews, foxes, owls, butterflies and people all find their place in the song of the wild again.