Corncrakes are on the way back

EFFORTS to save the corncrake from national extinction received a boost last year with the number of calling males up for the first time since 2014.

The elusive bird, known for its rasping call, was once widespread but the population was decimated by mechanised farming because the corncrake nests in meadows.

Figures for last year show Donegal and its islands remain the bird’s national stronghold as a total of 90 calling males were recorded. Of these, 59 were on the county’s off-shore islands.

The Corncrake Project annual report also shows 39 were recorded in Co. Mayo; 20 in Connemara and two calling males in Co. Sligo. But no corncrake was recorded in the Shannon Callows for the fourth consecutive year.

Since 2012, the State has spent €2.4million on the bird’s survival.

Despite recent success, last year’s 151 total is a fifth below the 1993 figure when conservation measures were brought in.

Denis Strong of the National Parks and Wildlife Service said he is ‘quietly confident we can... build on the success of last year’.

He said: ‘I was particularly happy to see the increase in 2018 and it is a reward for all the hard work as it has been very frustrating in previous years to see a decline after all of the effort.’

He said the last year’s hot summer was a factor in the rise.

The report reveals 125 farmers shared €118,447 in the Corncrake Grant Scheme and ten landowners shared €30,515 in the Farm Plan Scheme.