Conservationists hopeful for corncrake comeback

Conservationists trying to reintroduce the corncrake to Yorkshire say they're "very hopeful" the rare bird could once again flourish in the county.

Over the summer, a number of captivity-reared corncrakes have been released into the wild as part of the effort to re-establish the population.

Craig Ralston, senior reserve manager for Natural England's Lower Derwent Valley National Nature Reserve, said he was "excited" about the possible return of the bird.

Corncrakes were once plentiful in the UK but numbers declined sharply over the last century as farming methods changed and habitats were lost.

"The hope is that they'll establish a breeding population in Yorkshire. We need about 50 birds to call this nature reserve home in order to make the corncrake sustainable longer term," Ralston said.

Only about 1,100 calling males remain in Scotland according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which describes the species as "very secretive".

Corncrakes are known for their distinctive call, which was once a common sound across the British countryside.

Ralston said 148 captive-reared birds had been released in Yorkshire this year in a joint project between Natural England, National Nature Reserves and Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley.

The chicks are related to the wild Scottish population and were reared in captivity in Norfolk before being transported to the Yorkshire nature reserve.

Ralston said they had been kept in temporary homes on the site with "views of the sky" in order to orientate the birds and "fix" a home location before they are released.

"The chicks are in their pre-release pens for 26 days and that period is when we think they fix on the night sky and learn the magnetic fields and setting Yorkshire and the Lower Derwent Valley as home," he said.

The corncrakes are individually weighed and given a health check by avian vet Mark Naguib before being released and allowed to scurry into nearby hay meadows.

"We check their wings, legs, lungs and overall health, in addition to taking DNA samples that will enable us to individually identify each bird at a later date if necessary," he said.

The checks are important because the birds are expected to begin a long migration in the days following their release.

It is known that some birds will travel as far as central Africa for winter before hopefully returning to Yorkshire next spring.

Volunteer Jean Thorpe, an expert bird ringer, was attaching a number of small coloured rings to the legs of each corncrake to help with identification.

"It's wonderful to think that people in Yorkshire could soon be able to hear these birds calling again," she said.

Ms Thorpe, who runs a wildlife rescue centre near Malton, said the birds remained "extremely rare" in the region.

"I had not seen one until I started ringing these. I had heard them occasionally but never actually seen one," she said.

Ralston said the call of the male corncrake was once the "sound of summer" across the UK and he and his team would be monitoring local fields next year in the hope the birds would be returning to the local area.

"We'll be out at dusk next year, through the night, listening out for those returning males. You don't see these secretive birds very often so listening is important," he said.

Ralston said the team at the Lower Derwent Valley Nature Reserve would also be asking for members of the public to contact them should they hear the call of the corncrake.

He said the project to reintroduce the species was part of a bigger "landscape recovery" effort around the lower Derwent Valley.

"We've got 15km of hay meadows here, ideal habitat for these birds. But there are also suitable habitats in other parts of Yorkshire, so who knows.

"What we are doing here could act as a template for similar re-introductions in other parts of the UK. The dream is to hear calling corncrakes in many other areas," he said.

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