Curlew man Matt Trevelyan on why he walked 53 miles dressed as a giant bird

BBC News

26-04-2025

On Easter Sunday morning as the minds and mouths of many turned to the thought of demolishing chocolate eggs, Matt Trevelyan was thinking about protecting actual eggs.Like other walkers, he strapped on his boots, but unlike other hikers he then donned a 10ft curlew costume for his day ahead.Mr Trevelyan was on the day two of a three-day 53-mile walk to raise awareness and funds for the endangered bird species - dressed as Cathy the Curlew.The creature's call is a common sound in Nidderdale, because the European wading bird makes its nests in the traditional pasture land that surrounds the eastern edges of the Yorkshire Dales.But, according to Mr Trevelyan, the birds have declined by about two thirds in the last 50 or so years with the once-common song becoming unknown to local children.And due to recent changes to government policy, farmers are no longer paid to protect curlew."If kids grow up and they don't hear the call then they've lost something, they won't know it but it's like losing your sense of smell. "You're going to lose some richness in your life and there's so many kids who are growing up in parts of England who will only ever hear curlew on the TV," says Mr Trevelyan, from Middlesmoor, North Yorkshire."In any film, when they want to put a bit of atmosphere in, whether it's the wrong time of year or the wrong environment, they always play a bit of curlew song because it makes you feel special and wild and magical."Curlew, culturally, has been a vehicle for poetry, romance, it's an important cultural facilitator to speak about things that are difficult."
The Cathy costume was created using polystyrene, bamboo and hand-painted muslin.The long beak and narrow head meant Mr Trevelyan had reduced vision as he walked the almost 20-mile days through Pateley Bridge, Middlesmoor, Guisecliff Wood and Brimham Rocks."I totally underestimated it. I'm not used to doing long walks like this," he said."So what I thought was a seven-hour walk was really like a 12-hour walk each day."You need supporters to push you on, especially when you've got tunnel vision, you need navigated because you don't have your usual perceptive abilities."Mr Trevelyan is a Farming in Protected Landscapes Officer for the Nidderdale National Landscape (previously known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and works alongside farmers to protect endangered species.He says curlew have suffered because of the industrialisation of farming practices."Farming has become horribly efficient. You've got one man and a very big machine as opposed to 10 men with very small machines."You have contactors coming in and taking all the grass off a farm in one afternoon. And probably doing that three times over the summer, so that will take out the nest and the chicks."We can do something about it. We can locate nests with drones. They fly at a height curlew don't mind and curlews are masters of hiding their nests which makes it difficult to protect them. "Most farmers don't want to mow a nest on purpose so if it's been found they can avoid it."The money raised by Mr Trevelyan will go towards a private fund to pay famers to delay making hay until July, when the fledgling chicks will be old enough to fly away from any dangers.
'Joy and celebration'
Cathy the Curlew's adventures are not over yet. While currently held up in the council chambers in Pateley Bridge, her calendar also includes a visit to Harrogate Flower Show and The Fellsmen fell run race."I'm going to milk the Cathy costume for all it's worth," says Mr Trevelyan."Eventually people will get bored of seeing her. But she will go to assemblies in schools and hopefully lay eggs, kids love it."Mr Trevelyan also hopes Cathy will inspire future generations of conservationists, because, he says, you've got to learn to love an animal before you learn to save it."The first stage in any exercise in conservation is coming out and learning to love the bird, celebrate it."The curlew cry has major and minor notes in it, the minor notes in the call make you feel wistful and sorrowful and the major notes give you a feeling of joy and celebration."That's life isn't it in a nutshell. It's very profound. The call of the curlew makes you feel something and, perhaps, connects you with loss and pain."
Curlew decline
According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the curlew is the largest European wading bird and about 30% of the west European population spend winter in the UK. In the spring and summer they search out areas of rough pasture, heather moorland and wetland to breed, laying their eggs in a nest on the ground. In 2015, curlews were added to the Red list on the UK Conservation Status Report. Red is the highest conservation priority.On World Curlew Day, the RSPB launched the UK Action Plan for Curlew. The plan calls on government and agencies to support urgent action to reverse their decline.The RSPB's Suzannah Rockett said the species had been in sharp decline across the UK since the 1980s. "Changes to farming practices, driven by agricultural policy, have led to a loss of habitat, and a rise in predators is impacting on the numbers of chicks surviving," she said.
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