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For many people in Nidderdale, the curlew is more than a bird. Its bubbling, unmistakable call is part of the soundtrack of spring - a wild, ancient voice that in Spring belongs to these moors, valleys and limestone edges as surely as dry stone walls and heather.
So when that voice is under threat, people here feel it deeply.
This April, Nidderdale National Landscape is backing a £10,000 appeal for curlew conservation with a programme of events that is as imaginative as it is heartfelt: choir gatherings, moorland walks, creative workshops and a Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge, all designed to celebrate the bird and raise funds for the work needed to help it survive and thrive. The programme and conservation context are drawn from the release provided.
It is the kind of campaign that feels rooted in this place. Curlew conservation is not an abstract issue in Nidderdale or the wider uplands; it is bound up with identity, memory and a living landscape that many local people care about fiercely. And it also speaks to the wider work being carried out across the National Park, National Landscape and by partner organisations working to support nature recovery in some of our most treasured upland environments.
The urgency is real. Though curlews can still seem a familiar presence in Yorkshire, their decline has been severe. Their long lives and continuing visibility can disguise just how precarious their future has become. Across the UK, breeding success is now far below what is needed to maintain a stable population, and the species has suffered a major drop in numbers in recent decades. Yorkshire and the Pennine uplands have become increasingly important strongholds.
That is what gives this appeal its emotional weight. It asks people not just to admire the curlew, but to stand up for it.
Matt Trevelyan, Farming in Protected Landscapes officer for Nidderdale National Landscape, describes curlew as “part of the sound and soul of our upland landscape”, and that sense runs through the whole programme.
Things begin on 17 April with a Pennine Hills Curlew Choir refresher evening at Pateley Bridge Memorial Hall, led by musician Mary Keith. The following day, singers will head to Marsden Moor for a six-mile Walk for Curlew alongside Mary Colwell, founder of Curlew Action, taking song into the very landscape where Pennine curlews still breed.
On 19 April comes The Curlew Challenge, with supporters tackling the Yorkshire Three Peaks in homemade wildlife costumes. Among them will be Cathy the Curlew and Heathcliff, Nidderdale’s giant curlew puppets - joyful, eccentric ambassadors for a serious cause. The campaign builds on the public response already generated by Cathy, whose appearances have previously taken curlew conservation well beyond the dale.
Later in the month, Pateley Bridge Memorial Hall hosts two more events on 24 April. In the afternoon, The Curlew’s Call Studio invites people to recreate the curlew’s cry using music technology developed by composer and ornithologist Peter Cowdrey of Planet Birdsong. In the evening, Curlew Song: The Music and the Message explores both the hidden structure of birdsong and the conservation story behind it.
The programme closes on 25 April with Sing with Curlews at Malham Methodist Chapel and Malham Cove, carrying the campaign’s message to one of the Yorkshire Dales’ most iconic locations.
What makes the appeal particularly moving is the way it draws people in. The Pennine Hills Curlew Choir, formed in 2024, has become a distinctive part of Nidderdale’s conservation story, bringing together fieldworkers, local residents and new voices through original music inspired by the bird. It captures something important about conservation in this landscape: that it succeeds best when it is shared, place-based and full of human connection.
Most of the events are free, with donations welcomed, and some require advance booking. Together, they offer people a chance not only to support an urgent cause, but to take part in something hopeful - a public expression of care for a species that still defines the uplands for so many.
In Nidderdale, people understand that landscapes are shaped not only by geology and weather, but by what we choose to value and protect. The curlew’s call still rings out here. This spring, the community is making sure it is answered.
17 April — Pennine Hills Curlew Choir Refresher, Pateley Bridge Memorial Hall
18 April — Walk for Curlew, Marsden Moor
19 April — The Curlew Challenge, Yorkshire Three Peaks
24 April — The Curlew’s Call Studio, Pateley Bridge Memorial Hall
24 April — Curlew Song: The Music and the Message, Pateley Bridge Memorial Hall
25 April — Sing with Curlews, Malham Methodist Chapel and Malham Cove
Header Image: Heathcliff and Cathy - Giant Curlew Puppets (Oscar Boatfield)
