Curlews Workshop Community Painting by children and adults with MCAAt the recent Moorlands Climate Action HUG event in June, our Youth Engagement team hosted a Curlew Art Workshop, to enable children, young people and adults to ‘have a go’ at helping to create a large community painting of curlews. Response to the workshop and the painting were brilliant! All age groups were involved, including two babies!

As well as a bit of fun, it also raised awareness of the Curlew (Numenius arquata), our iconic but endangered Staffordshire Moorlands Spring migrant visitor. Its decline, as a result of habitat loss, is due in part to climate change. “Wintering trends may be complicated by climate-driven range shifts…..in response to increases in mean temperatures“. Rising global temperature leads to habitat change. This appears to be a significant cause of decline. Drainage of grassland, loss of our peatland, farm or animal management changes and predation in the uplands, are also contributing factors to their decline. To counter these changes, we need to raise awareness in different ways of how the effects of climate change are affecting our local environment, in this case, the declining population of our iconic curlew.
Tim Melling curlew flying3Our Youth Engagement team decided to follow the Curlew Art Workshop with a Summer Art Competition for children aged 5-16 in the Staffordshire Moorlands area. This, so they can ‘have a go’ at creating a piece of their own Curlew Art. We've now extended this into the autumn with 30th September as the new closing date.

Entrants are asked to photograph what they produce over the summer/early autumn and upload their photo on the Youth section of the MCA website. There are prizes!  We are hoping to have a ‘Gallery’ to display all their work and in the future, invite young people to send their photographs and artwork images of climate related subjects

Click here for Competition Details or related pdf

Photo credit: Tim Melling (Curlew Action)

Why a Curlew?

Tim Melling curlew flying3Curlews are amazing, beautiful birds that migrate to our Staffordshire upland fields and moorland to nest and raise their young. Sadly, once a common sight up here, curlews and other ground nesting birds are becoming endangered. They are on the RSPB red list which means they are at threat of extinction. “Curlews are in real trouble. Regional and possibly even country-level extinctions are now a possibility……. The U.K. has between 19 and 27 per cent of the global breeding population…(and) ..is arguably the most important country for curlews in the world.” RSPB

Curlews are big birds! As the largest wading bird in Europe, (over 60cm tall with a wingspan of up to 100cm), you certainly know about it when they fly low over your head calling for their mate! Their call is wonderful. (You can hear the evocative sound of the Curlew on Curlew Action’s website – Take a look and scroll down their page to listen – there are examples of Curlew Art there too. Many organisations like this and individuals are trying to help. Farmers can help to protect our ground nesting birds. Let’s hope these birds and our curlew numbers can be saved.  Photo credit: Tim Melling (Curlew Action)