Curlew Cam is live! The pair are previous stars of Curlew Cam and thanks to the Curlew-friendly management of our farming partner in the Shropshire Hills National Landscape. This year we are adding to the incubation journey by taking a closer look at some of the developments that we cannot see on the Cam. We will be following the development of the eggs by matching the egg stage in the nest to a similar egg in the headstarting facility. Each egg taken and cared for by the aviculturists is regularly checked through a process known as candling to ensure correct development in the egg. We will be showing you the stages of egg development in the Curlew Cam nest via records of the candled eggs.
This pair of Curlews have nested in almost exactly the same spot on the hill for the last three years (at least!). The male is colour ringed with the code ZZ and the female is 6Y. Both birds were ringed at nocturnal roost sites in the local area. 6Y was only ringed in Spring 2025 and was quickly resighted the next day at the Curlew Cam site. We know that it is the same female from 2024 as she always lays pointy, slightly bullet-shaped eggs, although this doesn’t seem to affect the chicks inside, which have mostly all hatched successfully in previous years.
This pair has already lost one nest this year, not far away from where they are nesting now and they re-layed quite quickly. This time we got the fence up in time to protect the nest, so please join us in keeping everything crossed for this pair to hatch and hopefully rear their chicks to fledging stage.
We hope you enjoy Curlew Cam – now a regular feature of the glorious late Spring weeks in the May countryside.
