Man Walked 53 Miles in a Handmade Giant Curlew Costume

This man trekked 53 miles in a giant curlew costume just to raise awareness for the threatened bird species.

Now that’s dedication.

The Eurasian Curlew is one of Great Britain’s most endangered bird species. According to BirdLife International, the Eurasian Curlew faces threats like habitat loss and fragmentation, thanks to afforestation, urbanization, and agricultural developments. 

“In frequently mowed grasslands, predators can easily hunt curlew nests and chicks due to limited cover,” the organization continued. “Conversely, when farmland is abandoned, the resulting increase in vegetation height makes those areas unsuitable for nesting.”

Farming in Protected Landscapes Officer Matt Trevelyan, 46, is a lover of this threatened bird and sought a unique way to raise awareness and support conservation efforts. In fact, he’s so passionate about the Eurasian Curlew’s survival that he walked 53 miles while dressed as one.

“I’ve always made giant puppets,” Trevelyan told The Independent. “And I’m prone to saying things like: ‘I’ll walk the Nidderdale way dressed as a curlew,’ and then you’ve got to do it.”

“I’m really worried [about the curlew],” he said. “Every nest, chick and egg matters.”

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Nidderdale National Landscape hosted the Walk for Curlew, led by Treveylan, over Easter weekend. According to the organization, “Each spring, thousands of curlews return to the moors and farmland of Nidderdale to breed—but behind their familiar calls lies an urgent conservation story.”

“We may be seeing a population of older, non-breeding birds that are not being replaced. When they die, the decline could be sudden and irreversible,” Trevelyan said, per Nidderdale National Landscape’s event information. “Every nest, egg, and chick matters.”

Trevelyan’s loved ones also joined in on the trek along Nidderdale Way, just ahead of World Curlew Day on April 21.

The walk stretched on for 24 hours, spread across two days, but Trevelyan doesn’t seem to mind, explaining that his curlew costume was lightweight, so it didn’t affect his journey too much. 

“The costume was fairly easy to walk in,” he told the Yorkshire Post. “As long as I pointed the beak in the correct direction and ducked underneath the occasional branch, I was fine.”