The slender-billed curlew is one of the world’s rarest birds. A beautiful, fragile creature, it bred in Siberia and wintered in the Mediterranean basin, passing through the wetlands and estuaries of Italy, Greece, the Balkans and central Asia twice a year. Then, no-one knows why, the population crashed. The slender-billed curlew now exists as rumour, hope, unconfirmed sightings and speculation. The only certainty of its story is that it now stands at the brink of extinction. The author of A Single Swallow tells a story of beauty, triumph, mystery and struggle, in a homage to a creature that may never be seen again.
