Waiting for the corncrake - Too little, too late

ANY DAY now the swallows will return to our skies and even if you see just one you can be reassured that long, sunny days of summer are just around the corner.

Though the swallows will be a most welcome sight, the sight — and the most distinctive sound — of a corncrake would be even more uplifting.

The shy bird, the only one seen in Ireland that is on the international Red List of endangered species, has reached such a low population level that there is concern that a millennium-long migration pattern may be coming to an end. Put simply, the 150 pairs that bred in Ireland last year — 50,000 in 1950 — may not have produced enough young birds to guarantee that some will spend summer among us.

Land reclamation has had a significant impact on the birds’ habitat but the floods that swamped the breeding grounds along the Shannon’s shallows may have pushed the species over a tipping point. There are some government-funded schemes to try to sustain the remnants of the population but it seems that they may be too little too late.

Hopefully official intervention will not come so late when the next species is in such jeopardy.