Sad news ...... CurlewCountry believe the cam chicks were predated after just a few days. Tags have not been found. Behaviour of adults seems to confirm this apparently.
In our favourite curlew spotting area we are just seeing one of the pair of adult curlew that were usually sighted. We aren't sure if this means they have a nest/chicks or if they have given up and gone their separate ways. Unfortunately fortfor them thefthe are now being cut up here. Would seem quite difficult for them to rear young here with the fields being too short due to grazing when they arrive at their breeding grounds and then probably not enough time for them to rear a late brood before the fields are cut. My neighbour tells me that the farms up here were more 'mixed' farming when he was a young man and each farm would have a corn field or two and that these were the fields favoured for nesting by the curlew. Also there were more ploughed fields for crops of turnip etc and the curlew favoured these for feeding.
So sad, that sound as they fly is so special. 
Isn't it so sad, after all the fear and danger they survive while they are sitting, only for their chicks to be taken. It is also a bit more doom for the species. Unless we start to legislate that where Curlew and other ground nesting birds nest then cultivations can only take place at certain times, then these iconic birds will soon become extinct. I suppose it might encourage deliberate destruction of nests to avoid rules - it's hard to tell if such things do more harm than good sometimes.
Interesting about the mixed farming being so much better for curlew. One of our neighbours used to grow a 'neep' field every year, and there were always curlews, now he doesn't and there aren't! Possibly just coincidence as there must be plenty of other factors.
I think it's hopeful that your pair are brooding, as they take it in turns and never leave the nest uncovered, so there is only ever one bird feeding and flying at a time. I noticed that when they are ready to swap [member=152775]arobwk[/member] if the other parent is a bit tardy, then they do their flight call increasingly loudly. The other one of the pair replies when it's on its way. They perhaps do it too if the chicks don't immediately respond to quiet calls for them to come back.
