PEOPLE in Donegal are being asked to listen out for the call of the corncrake bird as they returned to Ireland this week.
John Carey of the Corncrake Life Project told RTÉ’s Countrywide that field workers are confirming reports of corncrakes in full voice, although sightings of the bird close-up are “highly unlikely”.
The corncrake is one of Ireland’s most iconic bird species, but they have declined by more than 90 per cent in the last forty years. Its distinctive call was once heard all over the Irish countryside, but a rapid shift towards intensive agriculture has wiped the birds out and they are now only found in the west and northwest of the country and are now largely confined to the Gaeltacht regions.
The population here is increasing slightly and the range of the call the birds make is beginning to expand from the islands of Connemara, Mayo and north and west Donegal and now in Sligo.
The Corncrake Life Project is appealing to people to contact them to try put measures in place to protect the elusive bird as last year only 197 males were recorded.
“The population has by 30% increased nationally since 2018 through massive work by the national parks and wildlife service, projects like ours and local farmers…the bird was incredibly widespread in Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s and in recent years they almost went extinct and it’s a miracle we have any left at all,” Mr Carey said.
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