Darryl Armitage spoke with Anne Guichard, a conservation officer with RSPB Northern Ireland, about the efforts which are ongoing to bring the elusive Corncrake bird back to the province.
This endangered species faced extinction in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. However, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Giving Corncrake a Home project from RSPB NI, these birds made a triumphant return to Rathlin Island in 2014. The project, which has been running for over a decade, continues to play a crucial role in saving the red-listed species.
The success of the Corncrake returning each year is a testament to the dedication and passion of the community, farmers, volunteers and RSPB NI in their collective efforts to secure a future for the Corncrake on Rathlin Island.
This endangered species faced extinction in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. However, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Giving Corncrake a Home project from RSPB NI, these birds made a triumphant return to Rathlin Island in 2014. The project, which has been running for over a decade, continues to play a crucial role in saving the red-listed species.
The success of the Corncrake returning each year is a testament to the dedication and passion of the community, farmers, volunteers and RSPB NI in their collective efforts to secure a future for the Corncrake on Rathlin Island.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 So, Anne, could you tell me a little bit about the Giving Concrete a Home project, which
00:16 has been ongoing for the last number of years, and what it entails and how people can get
00:22 involved?
00:26 The Giving Concrete a Home project is one of the longest-running projects led by RSPB
00:33 Northern Ireland.
00:34 It's a project that aims to restore habitat for concrete on Rushline Island.
00:40 We do this by bringing nettle rhizome that we dig with the help of volunteers on the
00:45 mainland, and we wash them to avoid bringing unnecessary seeds and invertebrates.
00:54 We bag them and we bring them on Rushline Island to be replanted.
00:58 So this project aims to bring back concrete on Rushline Island.
01:03 How long has it been going and has it been growing in popularity since it was established?
01:15 The project was first set up, I think, over 15 years ago.
01:18 So this is, like I say, one of the longest projects run by RSPB Northern Ireland.
01:25 It has been very successful over the years because we went from zero birds to now having
01:32 regularly four or five calling males every year since 2014.
01:37 So this has been a very successful project.
01:40 My main area of work involves working with farmers on the North Coast and Rushline Island.
01:47 So I am a conservation officer, which basically means I give advice to farmers on what they
01:53 can do on the land for helping farmland birds, so especially the concrete and species like
01:59 chaff, lapwing or snipe.
02:02 I also give them advice on the kind of funding they can get through the environmental farming
02:08 scheme.
02:09 So I'm the facilitator of an EFS group called the Causeway Coast Farmland Bird Initiative,
02:16 which is funded by DERA.
02:18 This group allows me to advise farmers on the type of funding they can get, the best
02:25 options they can apply for their farm according to the type of farming they do, the type of
02:30 habitat they have.
02:32 We can always see if there is less productive area in the farm, maybe this would be a great
02:38 place to implement some measures for biodiversity on the farm.
02:44 So the corncrete, it's a bird that evokes many nostalgic memories for the older generation,
02:51 but less for the younger generation.
02:53 Indeed, many young people will never have heard the call of a corncrete before.
02:59 It is one of those breeds here in Northern Ireland and Ireland and on the islands of
03:04 Scotland as well, that it does provoke those nostalgic memories.
03:10 Yes, absolutely, this is a bird that farmers have been talking to, remember fondly, so
03:18 they remember the call of the corncrete, which can be heard like 1k around a place.
03:25 So it used to be so widespread, the corncrete, that everybody had heard the corncrete in
03:31 the past.
03:32 But now, as you say, the younger generation might not have a chance to hear one, especially
03:37 considering in Northern Ireland there is only a few birds left on Rathlin Island.
03:42 So this is exactly what we want to avoid.
03:44 We want to avoid being the generation that says we didn't do anything to help the corncrete.
03:51 And it works, you know, if we manage the habitat for corncrete with the support of farmers
03:57 and local communities, we can make a change.
04:01 Can you give me some background on the corncrete, its characteristics and what sort of a bird
04:08 it is?
04:12 The corncrete is a small bird, just a bit bigger than the blackbird really.
04:17 So it is from the rail family, so closely related to mohairns and coots, but they live
04:25 on dry land.
04:26 So the main characteristic you want to know is that it's very secretive.
04:30 You can't see it very well because they're always hiding amongst nettles or tall vegetation.
04:36 But you can hear them.
04:37 They have this very distinctive cracks, cracks call that you can hear like a long distance
04:43 away.
04:45 It's also a bird that migrates every year.
04:47 So you will find them again in our land from mid-April and they spend the winter in Africa.
04:55 So our birds spend the winter in Western Africa.
04:59 They also feed on insects and seeds they can find in meadows.
05:05 The female will usually breed twice during the breeding season.
05:11 They need to fledge a large number of chicks to be successful for the next year and increase
05:17 the productivity because they only live two to three years old.
05:21 So that doesn't give them much time to increase productivity.
05:27 So having the best habitats for corn crake is critical to give the chicks a chance to
05:36 fledge.
05:37 Can you tell me what sort of habitat the corn crake prefers to live in and why that's the
05:45 sort of habitat that they prefer?
05:49 So the corn crake needs tall vegetation at least 20 centimetres high along the breeding
05:55 season because they're very secretive.
05:58 They don't want to be seen.
05:59 So they need this early cover made of different plants, early growing plants including nettles,
06:07 very important plant for corn crake.
06:09 We also use flaggeris or umbelifer species like hogweeds and co.
06:15 So this early cover are usually built around field margins but the quality of the field
06:23 itself is very important.
06:24 It needs to have an open structure so that the birds can move freely among the fields.
06:31 So we need this early cover because when the birds arrive mid-April time the fields and
06:38 the grass and the flowers in the meadow will be very short.
06:42 So having a margin made of early growing plants like nettles is necessary for them to hide
06:49 from predators because they're going to use this early cover to feed the young and to
06:54 nest as well.