RSPB Scotland is launching an ambitious £738k project to protect corncrakes with the help of a £375k grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The “Corncrake Calling” project aims to save one of Scotland’s rarest and most secretive birds.
Once widespread, older generations still remember the distinctive crex-crex song which rang out across UK meadows until corncrake populations fell dramatically with the intensification of farming. They are now confined to a few Scottish islands and a few isolated areas on the North West coast.
Corncrake Calling will work closely with farmers, local communities and national audiences to provide these iconic birds with the best possible chance of future success.
In the UK, the corncrake is red listed (the highest level of conservation concern). Their population fell catastrophically during the 1900s due to mechanisation and earlier mowing of grass crops. By the 1990s they bred only in the Hebrides, North West Highlands and Orkney in Scotland.
Action by the RSPB, other conservation charities and government resulted in a significant increase in the corncrake population between 1993 and 2007. It was a major success story for evidence-based conservation, for partnership working and for agri-environment measures promoting species conservation.
But the birds’ fortunes have declined more recently. The UK population fluctuated at just over 1000 calling males until 2017 when only 866 were recorded, a drop of 33% since 2014 and the lowest number since 2003. Numbers recovered slightly in 2018 with 899 males recorded but decreased again in 2019 to only 870 calling males.
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Posted On: 09/07/2020