Saving the corncrake - A good start

The modest recovery of corncrake numbers, albeit from a disastrously low base, is a victory for planned conservation measures even if it took an EU court ruling to force us to do the right thing and protect the habitat this migratory bird depends on.

Early figures released yesterday show that 230 calling corncrake males were recorded this summer — a 24% increase on the 185 identified last year. This very positive news must however but put in context. The population is still a fraction of what it was a generation ago and it is precariously perched in relatively remote areas.

The conservation programme has not succeeded in restoring a corncrake population, no matter how small, in what might be desccribed as intensivly farmed areas. Indeed, one of the bird’s former strongholds, the Shannon Callows was home to just one male this summer.

This suggests that more must be done to make even slivers of our industrial farmlands more welcoming to the numerous species of birds struggling to find habitat or refuge.