A rare bird is in danger of being wiped out as numbers plummet by 96% since the 1980s.
There are only 136 Eurasian Curlews in Ireland and they are now on the verge of extinction as their habitat is being destroyed.
The Irish Curlew Task Force is fighting to save the bird from extinction and to protect their vulnerable chicks.
Chair of the task force, Alan Lauder, warned that if the numbers slip into single-digits, they will effectively be on the way out completely.
He said: “At the moment they are found in small numbers in mainly western counties on the remnants of the bogs and high grassland.
“We had so many thousands and now we are on the brink of extinction.
“We could be seeing single figures and functionally they are extinct at that point.
“The recommendations of the Task Force and the work of the Curlew Conservation Project and others is a start but it now needs more resource and an expansion of the conservation efforts.
“An important aspect is making sure that farmers and landowners are able to stay engaged and are rewarded for efforts that they make to help curlew through improved agri-environment schemes.”
There are currently just six remaining species of curlew across the world, with three of these being in danger of extinction.
The decline of the Eurasian Curlew has been most severe in Ireland, which is in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s ‘red zone’.
In winter, there is a large number of curlew on Irish coasts but these are mainly birds wintering from colder European countries.
The Curlew Task Force was established in 2016 by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to try and reverse the decline.
In 2016, there was 122 breeding pairs, or 244 birds, showing a drop of over 100 in just three years.
They feed mostly on invertebrates, particularly ragworms, crabs and molluscs.
They are usually well spread out while feeding, but roost communally, usually along salt marshes and sand banks.
