A Selection of Your Emails
From Mary Colwell
CEO Curlew Action
22nd February 2022
Dear Janie et al
This is a note of thanks for all of you at the Sunderland Point Conservation Society. Steph has been keeping us all informed about the amazing work you are doing to help make the Curlew Summit and Birdwatch a great success.
It is imperative we connect upcoming generations with the natural world, and curlews are a wonderful ambassador for wildlife. I know you are giving your time and energy as well as your expertise and buildings to help us, and I can’t thank you enough.
We can’t do what we do without dedicated and caring people like yourselves, so please take this a a heartfelt thank you from me and all the Curlew Action team, we are very grateful.
My very best wishes
Mary
Mary Colwell
mary@curlewaction.com
Twitter: @curlewcalls
Instagram: marycolwell1
2019 WWT Marsh Award for Wetland Conservation
2018 David Bellamy Education Trust NGO Award
2017 BTO Dilys Breese Award for Outstanding Science Communication
Chair - Curlew Recovery Partnership England
Beak, Tooth and Claw - Living with predators in Britain. (William Collins 2021)
Curlew Moon (William Collins 2018)
John Muir - the Scotsman who saved America’s wild places (Lion Hudson, 2014)
From F.S., Blackburn
26th November 2021
I would like to congratulate you on the presentation and sentiments expressed in your website. Having been to Sunderland Point on many occasions to enjoy the scenery and birdlife, I have been dismayed to hear of the prospect of new developments on the site.
The beauty of the place lies in its comparative remoteness, history and a wide variety of bird life. Any proposed developments would completely destroy the whole ethos of the place and would certainly go against all the current thinking of conservation and protection of the natural environment.
I don't think any developments would serve to enhance the Point and would inevitably be harmful in a variety of ways.
Please keep me informed and if there is anything I can do to sustain this natural oasis and keep it free from any developments please let me know.
From S.A., Lancaster
15th November 2021
Sunderland Point is a unique place that needs protecting. The last thing it needs is anything that encourages more visitors.
Respect for the wildlife and rare habitat would suggest to all but the most money minded, that it does not need groups of visitors travelling to gigs on the remote point. Parking is not plentiful (rightly so) and wildlife will be disturbed even more. Find somewhere else for that. This is like proposing to put a pub in wildlife sanctuary.
I am a musician, and I promise if they go ahead with these proposals I'll never play there and will encourage other musicians to boycott it.
In case anyone hadn't noticed, human activity has decimated the wildlife population of the UK. We should be doing everything we can to reverse it and be doing nothing that continues that decimation. Leave the birds alone. Stop encouraging strain on this environment by using it as something to sell.
From R.R.S. Preston
9th November 2021
I recently heard about the proposals to develop Sunderland Point and my heart sank.
As one of the few areas of natural beauty remaining unspoilt by the over development we are currently experiencing to excess across the North West, I would urge the conservation society to highlight the risk mass tourism poses to Sunderland Point and take steps to both conserve and safeguard the area.
As a child I spent many happy times in Sunderland Point, learning about its history and links to transatlantic trade. I was fascinated by Sambo’s story, a history that is both current and relevant to the Black Lives Matter movement and must be preserved for future generations.
In addition, we developed a love of learning about nature. Our family are absolutely horrified at the prospect of the environmental dangers re-development poses not only to natural habitats but to rural communities and their heritage.