Morgan Heim
Curlew Man
Raising awareness of curlew conservation, United Kingdom, 2025
Category - Changemakers
Occasionally, wildlife conservation needs to embrace “big stupid ideas,” says Matt Trevelyan, who in April of 2024 became a viral sensation after deciding to dress up as a human-sized Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata) and walk across his county in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire, England, a whopping 53 miles over one weekend. By day, Matt works on curlew conservation for the Nidderdale National Landscape, and if he had his way, he’d probably become one! A classically-trained clown, he is also a master puppeteer and a Buddhist. This photo was taken as we began filming him for a documentary about his efforts to protect the Eurasian curlew, which has just seen its close cousin, the slender-billed curlew, go extinct. While the problems for wildlife can be dire, the efforts to save them can inspire joy. Sometimes, conservation deserves to be a spectacle, says Matt.
RUNNER-UP
34 mm f/2.8 Lens - 1/250 sec at f/6.3 ISO 1250