Forty-eight young curlews are being released back into their natural habitat in the Shropshire hills as part of efforts to protect the species.
The scheme, which is run by the non-profit organisation Curlew Country, has seen eggs taken from wild nests and incubated, with the hatched chicks then raised in specially-constructed pens.
Amanda Perkins discussed this 'headstarting' process with BBC News:
"Our monitoring showed that no chick survived to fledging from any of the nests we looked at," she said, adding that the team "needed a desperate measure to try and hold the situation".
Perkins described the process, which is licensed by Natural England, as "a sort of sticking plaster" that will work "until we can get better natural nesting in place".
"In the wild, these chicks aren't surviving," she said.
The curlew is also listed in Shropshire's Local Nature Recovery Strategy as a species that needs particular help.
Lynn Parker, who coordinates that strategy, also spoke to BBC News, saying that groups "need to work together", otherwise "we really will see curlews go extinct":
The strategy focuses on "landscape scale connectivity", she explained, adding that "really good quality grasslands or wetlands" are exactly what the curlews need.
As curlews like to nest on farmland, Parker praised the farming community for being "really supportive" of conservation efforts.
"They let people know where nests are, fence them off sometimes, and work with volunteers," she said.
With curlews marked as a "priority species" on the county's nature restoration plan, Parker said that seeing them thrive "would be great, but survive is kind of what we're working on at the moment".
This year's release of chicks is one step further towards "a situation where we're not at risk of losing this really iconic species for Shropshire", she added.
For me, the unique haunting cry of the curlew is the sound of the Shropshire hills and I wish the people working to keep them in that landscape every success.
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