Curlew champions, curlew nest protection officers and curlew advisory officers are all being sought this year for the 2022 Curlew Conservation Programme.

There are now just over 100 pairs in the Republic of Ireland; a 97% decline since 1990.

Breeding productivity has been so low that population viability analysis predicts that in the absence of any action, the curlew will go extinct as a breeding species in Ireland within five to 10 years, according to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

Curlew champions are sought in a number of counties, with successful applicants ideally having “associations with the farming community”. They will be responsible for doing survey work among other tasks.

Nest protection

The role of the curlew nest protection officer is to control and lessen the likelihood of curlew nest/chick predation by fox, mink, hooded crow and magpie solely in the vicinity of curlew breeding territories - within 1km of nest sites.

They will also help with efforts to find breeding curlew and in assembling and maintaining nest protection fences. Nest protection officers are also sought in a number of counties.

Six curlew advisory officers are also being sought for the project.

Their job will be to provide ecological guidance on curlew conservation measures to be rolled out in their area, as well as engaging on and overseeing actual implementation of measures.

Landowners

They will also engage landowners in the curlew conservation partnership. This will involve:

  • Drawing up a simple management plan with participants.
  • Recording landowner effort (in terms of actions and hours) on a weekly basis, and will certify that landowners have engaged to a requisite standard in order to draw down reimbursement.

    • Applications for the jobs close on Thursday 10 February at 5pm. More detail on the jobs can be found here.