Corn Crake conservation

Abstract

Corn Crakes Crex crex have been present in Britain & Ireland for thousands of years and were widespread as breeding birds in the nineteenth century. There were very rapid declines in many areas in the first decades of the twentieth century, followed by more gradual declines, which meant that by the 1990s the species remained only in parts of Scotland and Ireland. This paper provides an overview of recent research findings about the behaviour and ecology of Corn Crakes in Britain & Ireland. It outlines how that research has been used to design and implement a conservation programme in Scotland, which combines special management of nature reserves with wider implementation of conservation management on farms and crofts through government-funded agrienvironment schemes. The initial results of this programme were encouraging, with Corn Crake numbers increasing markedly. The population has begun to decline in the last few years, though it is still much larger than it was before conservation measures were implemented. It seems that changes to the agri-environment scheme may have played a part. The reasons for this recent decline should be studied further and remedied.