In reply to Ross McGibbon:
I still don’t understand how moorland owners claim curlew to benefit from their management. I live on the very doorstep of a large area of managed moorland in West Yorks, and on my regular jaunts on to the tops I see and hear so little bird life of any sort. The sub-moorland grazed fields surrounding my house however are teeming with curlew and lapwing. In spring there was a flock of 30 curlew in just the few hundred metres of field between the local primary school and myself. Haven’t ever seen that many even on a good day on the tops.
As a fair comparison on relatively unknown terrain, I spent an entire day up on Rylstone the other week, saw and heard absolutely nothing beyond one kestrel and a handful of LBJs. On the car ride back towards Skipton I could hear curlews incessantly in the road side fields. Same story.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t good numbers on the tops, but they’re minuscule in comparison to even a few dozen feet below the last heather.
Post edited at 20:16