Page 69 - Discovery Guide
P. 69
Inspired by watching their spring courtship displays in fields on the urban fringes of East Lancashire, artist William Titley embarked on an odyssey charting the curlew’s migration route from
the uplands to the coast
The curlew is one of the iconic birds of Lancashire’s uplands.
Its plaintive bubbling call is an early sign of spring returning to the countryside, as the first birds arrive from their wintering grounds at the coast to find somewhere to nest.
Dr William Titley always awaited the return of the curlew in early March with eager anticipation. A couple of pairs usually returned to a patch of scrubby
grassland on the edge of Colne, just a stone’s throw from his house. So he was dismayed to learn of a planning application for a new housing estate which threatened to permanently displace the birds on his ‘patch’.
“Curlews often pair for life and birds will return to the same nesting territory year after year,” said William. “The prospect of losing this precious wild oasis to a housing development inspired me to find out more
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