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The corncrake, one of Scotland’s rarest breeding birds, has suffered a poor season this year with numbers dropping by nearly a fifth.

A RSPB Scotland survey found the number of calling males fell by 17% compared to last year, with only 1,069 being counted.

 

Corncrakes are elusive, pigeon-sized birds which breed in a handful of places in Scotland - predominately in the Western Isles - over the spring and summer, migrating to Africa in winter.

 

Uist and Barra has seen a decline of 49 to 296 this season. Last year's six males in the Bishop Isles has decreased to four.

 

Some 106 males were recorded in Lewis compared to 150 last year.

 

Tiree holds the most corncrakes with 333 calling males counted in 2015.

 

It is thought that the exceptionally cold, late springs in 2013 and this year is the reason behind the reduction.

 

Despite these recent fluctuations, however, corncrakes have recovered hugely since the early 1990s when they had dwindled to just 400 calling males due to the earlier mowing of hay and silage fields.

 

In 1991, crofters helped save the corncrake by participating in a conservation programme to actually provided the habitats these birds need, a scheme hailed as an internationally famous example of wildlife cooperative conservation.

 

Paul Walton, Head of Habitat and Species for RSPB Scotland, said: “The corncrake has recovered well since the early 1990s, and that’s thanks to agricultural communities on the islands. But now that recovery has slowed and numbers are fluctuating, we think in response to cold spring weather.

 

"Though numbers have increased, the conservation programme has not yet succeeded in spreading the population further than its low point in 1991.

 

"It is difficult to fund crofters to deliver land management in areas where corncrakes are currently absent – but that’s the only way to start increasing the birds’ range - the vital next step towards a robust and secure national population.”  

Steve Knell / RSPB

Cold springs hits corncrake numbers

 

17 November 2015