Rise of 5% in male corncrake numbers

A CONSERVATION project costing close to €400,000 aimed at saving the endangered corncrake from extinction has helped to boost the bird’s male population this year by six to 133.

Divisional manager of the Department of the Environment’s National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Pat Warner, yesterday confirmed that the final results of its census of the corncrake breeding male counted 133, up six, or a 5 per cent increase, on the 127 recorded last year.

Mr Warner said the census had recorded 91 corncrakes in Co Donegal, 40 in west Connacht and only two in the Shannon Callows.

“There was a marginal increase this year for the corncrake. We are doing absolutely everything possible we can for the species. It is a lot of money, but I believe it is fairly good value for money. We have cut our overheads significantly,” Mr Warner said.

“The corncrake is a very charismatic species and we have been trying to save it for the past 20 years. We don’t give up easily, and we are now throwing the kitchen sink at it with a package of measures.”

The €384,000 spend on the corncrake this year includes €67,000 on a predator control programme for the mink, which has wreaked havoc on the corncrake population. Some 200 mink in the immediate vicinity of corncrake nests were killed humanely during summer, Mr Warner said.

Some €209,000 was spent on “land management”, covering the rent of land from farmers where corncrakes are located, and paying farmers for delaying the cutting of grass until after summer to allow the birds to nest in fields.

A further €108,000 was spent by the NPWS on the field census and on field workers liaising with farmers.

The corncrake is one of only two breeding species in Ireland that appears on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.