Status in UK:
(A) Migrant/Resident Breeder, Passage/Winter Visitor
Subspecies:arquata recorded in Britain (of 3 subsp. in the world)
.
Length:
55 cm
Wingspan:
90 cm
Weight:
M: 770 g F: 1000 g
Scientific name from:
Gr.: neos=new + mene=moon (i.e. crescent-shaped)
and L.: arcuatus=bow-shaped
World Distribution:
BREEDS: n&c Eurasia, WINTERS: S Europe, S Asia, Africa & Indonesia
Habitat:
Marsh, grassland, on migration mudflats
Diet:
Omnivorous, though principally invertebrates located by touch
TitBit:
The curlew's onomatopeoic call is one of the most evocative and distinctive of calls - "I take my gladness in the cry of the gannet/and the sound of the curlew instead of the laughter of men" are lines from the poem The Seafarer which exists in manu
script from AD 1000, but probably orginated much earlier
Summer:
105 thousand pairs
in 1985-99
Note: Best estimate
Winter:
147 thousand individuals
in 1994-99
  First Record:
11th Century
[Fossil evidence from
Devensian (last) glaciation, 10-120,000 yr ago]
Conservation Status: AMBER
because
Species of European Concern,
Recent Breeding Population Decline,
Important Breeding Population
Important Non-breeding Population
These data should be cited as: Robinson, R.A. (2005) BirdFacts: profiles of birds occurring in Britain & Ireland (v1.24, June 2009). BTO Research Report 407, BTO, Thetford (http://www.bto.org/birdfacts)