What is World Curlew Day?
World Curlew Day is held on 21st April every year and is a grass-roots initiative which champions curlews worldwide.
Created by Mary Colwell in 2017, the day shines a light on the dangers curlews face as a result of shifting factors both globally and locally. Many of these are factors deeply linked to human activity, such as land-use and climate change, and so we must take responsibility for protecting these wonderful birds.
We use World Curlew Day as a chance to shout from the rooftops about the Curlew, and we hope you will too!
2025
With World Curlew Day coming up on Easter Monday, 21 April, we have a series of exciting events to celebrate! We hope you can get involved in World Curlew Day wherever you are. Please let us know across social media what you are planning to do to mark the day!
Every year, we run competitions for World Curlew Day, and this year is no exception, with the return of our poetry, art, and baking competitions! Find out more details on the categories, how to enter, and who is judging on our competition page.
Stroud Curlew Mural
We wanted to celebrate in an extra special way and so we have partnered with ATM Street Art to create a beautiful mural in Stroud town centre. This stunning art will remind people of the preciousness and precariousness of Curlews for years to come. To bring this project to life, we have launched a Crowdfunder and we would really appreciate your support.
Lansdown Hall – 21 April
Alongside the Stroud mural, we will be hosting an afternoon of talks and activities on Easter Monday, April 21, at Lansdown Hall. Keep an eye on our e-mail updates and social media accounts for further information and details on how to secure tickets.
Wild Life Drawing Online Class – 23 April
We are collaborating with Wild Life Drawing to bring you a wholesome evening of Curlews and art. Join us on 23 April for an online event where our Director Mary Colwell, will be giving a relaxed talk about Curlews whilst you work with an artist to learn how to draw our favourite birds, and listen to Curlew music! Tickets will be released soon so make sure you’re following our social media platforms to grab a spot!
2024
On the weekend of World Curlew Day, we held two events in northern England. On Saturday 20th April, we had a two-part event in Farndale, with a three-hour walk on the North Yorkshire Moors to see Curlews in their habitat, followed by an intimate evening event at the famous The Band Room with David Gray and Mary Colwell.
On World Curlew Day itself, we held another evening event at the Alnwick Playhouse, hosted by the Duke of Northumberland.
And as usual, we had our World Curlew Day competition! This year, we added a new category: Curlew bake-off!
2023
This year was our biggest World Curlew Day yet! Curlew Action held four events:
- An evening of music and conversation with Mary Colwell and David Gray in Bristol
- Webinar: 'Curlews in myths and legends'
- New Forest nature walk, in partnership with Leica Sports Optics and Wild New Forest
- An evening of music and conversation with Mary Colwell and David Gray in Beaulieu, New Forest
See some of the entries to our World Curlew Day art & poetry competition below!
'Curlews'
Over 16 poetry winner, Clare Donnison, read by Mary Colwell
'I still go on'
Under 16 poetry winner, Findlay List, read by Mary Colwell
Why the 21st of April?
St Beuno is the patron saint of Curlews, the charming story of how and why he blessed the Curlew can be found on our 'Curlews and Culture' page. St Beuno's feast day is the 21st of April! It is also the day that our founder, Mary Colwell, began her 500 mile walk for Curlews in 2016 - read her book Curlew Moon to hear all about it.
How can I get involved?
Hold a talk, organise a Curlew walk, have a Curlew coffee morning, hold a Curlew-themed art show, create a Curlew song or dance, hold a Curlew-themed poetry evening, draw a Curlew picture, have a Curlew Day at a local school, hold a ‘Curlew conversation’ and record people’s memories of when Curlew were common… Any money raised can go towards local or national Curlew projects. Thank you for supporting World Curlew Day.
World Curlew Day is the perfect opportunity to get involved with Curlew Action, raising both funds and awareness for the plight of the Curlew. To find out more, visit our Support Us page.
There are plenty of ways to help raise awareness for the Curlew, including hosting an event, creating flyers to distribute locally, or even making a sign warning walkers to keep dogs on leads around Curlew nests.
If you want to fundraise for us, you could take part in a sponsored walk or run, or perhaps organise a gala evening with fun fundraising activities and a Curlew theme. We've got lots of ideas, tips and resources over on our Fundraising page.
As always, we will be organising lots of activities for World Curlew Day (including our famous art, poetry and baking competition), so keep an eye out for more news throughout our website, social media, emails and newsletters.
World Curlew Day 2022
world curlew day 2021
We celebrated World Curlew Day 2021 with a series of art and poetry competitions for children and adults, which were all a huge success.
You can see some of the visual artwork in the gallery on this page. As you can imagine, it was nearly impossible to choose winners since we received such amazing pieces!
We were also inspired by the extraordinary poetry created by competition entrants. Winners got to have their poems recorded by David Gray and Brian Briggs of Stornoway. Have a listen to some of this work below.
Curlews (1983 - ) by Paula-Knight, read by David Gray
Curlews by Robin Hargreeves, read by David Gray
Lost (after Rabindranath Tagore) by Sarah-Howden, read by David Gray
