Increase in Ireland’s corncrake population

THE battle to save the endangered corncrake from extinction received a major boost last year with the first increase in numbers since 2005.

According to a new Department of the Environment report, the numbers of corncrakes last year increased by five to 133.

This was the first rise since 2005 when 162 were recorded. This was followed by a steady decline between 2005 and 2009, when numbers decreased by 41 in the three core areas.

However, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) annual report states that the situation in one of the corncrakes’ three Irish strongholds, the Shannon Callows “is quite catastrophic”.

The census recorded 54 calling males in the Shannon Callows in 2001, but only two were present last year — a drop of four on 2009.

The report finds in relation to the Callows that “at such low levels, the population remains very vulnerable to extinction”.

The state spent €414,000 on conserving the endangered bird last year as part of its obligations under the EU Habitats Directive.

The NPWS spent €239,000 on schemes with farmers and landowners, €108,000 on the field census and field workers liaising with farmers and a further €67,000 on a mink predator programme.

The corncrake is one of only two breeding species in Ireland that appears on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, but mechanised farming practices have decimated the population — which once stood at tens of thousands across the country — in the past number of decades.

One of the dangers the corncrake faces is from feral mink and the annual report reveals that 254 mink were killed in a departmental predator control programme last year.

Overall, the number of corncrakes in the core areas of Donegal, west Connacht and Shannon Callows increased to 133 last year.

In relation to the Shannon Callows, the report finds: “The high incidence of summer flooding in the callows in recent years is the most likely cause of the recent severe declines in corncrake numbers.

“In 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008 heavy rainfall led to flooding during the corncrake breeding season.”

The prospects for the corncrake look best in Co Donegal where there was a 35% increase on 2009’s total of 67, bringing the number to 91.

However, the report finds that the mainland Donegal population “showed a significant decline”, while numbers increased substantially on several of the islands to 64.

In west Connacht, numbers declined from 48 to 40, and the report states that the decline “is of concern, but possibly is due to adverse weather”.