‘Slender billed curlew’ by Szabolks Kokay

The painting was made by my friend Szabi as an homage to one of the last slender-billed curlews seen anywhere in the world; the species is now believed to be extinct. The demise of the slender billed curlew and Szabi’s remarkable story feature in the essay ‘Dust’ in Karen’s Wainwright longlisted Abundance; Nature in Recovery.

Click here to see more of Szbabi’s fabulous paintings of wildlife. Meanwhile, the European curlew is sliding dangerously towards the same fate due to pressures from intensive agriculture, a rise in numbers of predators and the loss of critical mass leaving adult birds unable to defend their nests.

Here’s a link to Curlew Country, England’s pioneering lowland curlew recovery project who are leading the way in curlew restoration in the Shropshire hills. In 2016 Karen was invited to spend the summer as writer in residence with Curlew Country.  On returning home to Cumbria Karen published the anthology Curlew Calling to raise funds for curlew conservation. She is the founder of Curlew Country South Cumbria, working with farmers and land managers to bring breeding curlews back from the brink in the South Lakes area.