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Globally several key population of Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata are suspected to be undergoing moderately rapid population declines. This species is a non-breeding Palearctic migrant to the region, occurring in South Africa from September to March. Accordingly, the global status of this species is also adopted as the regional status.
The Eurasian Curlew has a wide distribution across its Northern Hemisphere breeding grounds which spans from the British Isles, through north-western Europe and Scandinavia into Russia, extending east into Siberia (BirdLife International 2014). 75% of the global breeding population is found in northern Europe. With the exception of birds breeding in Britain and Ireland, the species is migratory, wintering across a broad front in the austral summer across the coasts of the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent, south-east Asia and Japan (Jensen and Lutz 2007). Within the region, birds are concentrated at larger wetlands along the coast with concentrations at Langebaan Lagoon, Western Cape (Turpie 2005). It is suspected that birds occurring in South Africa breed east of the Urals, Russia (Underhill 1997) although this is unconfirmed. It is assumed that birds that remain throughout the austral winter are first-year birds (Underhill 1997).
The global population is estimated to number between 77 000-1 065 000 individuals (Delany and Scott 2006) of which between 440 000-720 000 individuals are of the subspecies N. a. arguata which breeds across the British Isles, Fennoscandia and north and central European Russia (Stroud et al. 2004). The number of birds overwintering in South Africa and Namibia is c. 500 birds (Summers et al. 1987) although Taylor et al. (1999) reported a high of 1 370 birds at Langebaan Lagoon. Zwartkops Estuary is the only other site of significance with c. 60 individuals (Taylor 1999). The number of birds occurring in the austral summer is certainly greater than 1 000 mature individuals. Confidence in this regional estimate is low and requires verification.
The global population of Eurasian Curlew is in decline with data from 2007 return estimated three-generation declines of between 26-34% (BirdLife International 2014). However, owing to the uncertainty over whether declines in southern populations have been compensated for by increases in northern populations, the global trend is suspected to fall within the band 20-30% in the past 15 years (three generations) accounting for its Near Threatened status (BirdLife International 2014). Confidence in this global population trend estimate is low.
The most significant threats occur on the northern breeding grounds with changes in land-use, agricultural practices and nest predation considered to be responsible for declines in European Union states (Jensen and Lutz 2007). Habitat loss and modification has suppressed breeding success. Hunting is not considered to be a major cause for the decline in the European Union states; likewise, human disturbance on breeding and wintering areas is believed to be of secondary importance (Jensen and Lutz 2007).
No species-specific conservation efforts are underway.
In 2007, the European Union Birds Directive completed a report on the Eurasian Curlew, which proposed management measures to be implemented in the 25 European member states although, ideally, management prescriptions of this plan should cover the entire geographical range of the Eurasian Curlew. The long-term objective (10 years) of the plan is to restore the species to a favourable conservation status. The short-term (three year) objectives are to (1) improve management and protection of breeding and wintering sites, (2) improve the protection from disturbance and (3) to collect more robust data to better understand the potential importance of hunting and other types of population regulations.
* Assess the impact of hunting, including an estimate of the annual number shot where hunting is permitted.
* Continue ringing activities and analyze existing ringing data to identify population units in all countries with important breeding, staging or wintering numbers.
* Annual mid-winter census of all areas of international importance for wintering Eurasian Curlew are carried out as part of the International Waterfowl Census.