Corncrake Calling – the journey so far

Welcome to the new blog for the Corncrake Calling project. My name is Jane Shadforth and together with my colleagues I will be keeping you up to date with the latest project developments along with how you can get involved in helping this noisy but rare and secretive wee bird.

In this first blog, I want to tell you why corncrakes need our help right now, what Corncrake Calling has done so far and what we have planned going forwards. 

Why corncrakes need our help right now

Like many species, corncrake populations declined dramatically across the UK over the last century due to agricultural changes. Since the 90s, however, action by the RSPB, working with the government, conservation partners, crofters and farmers saw population numbers make a substantial recovery in the remote Scottish locations where they breed.

Unfortunately, despite 20 years of conservation success, numbers of corncrakes have been declining again in Scotland since the record numbers in 2014 when 1289 calling males were recorded. Over the last 5 years there has been at least a 30% decline with only 870 recorded in 2019.

A combination of factors influences this, which include land use changes, gaps in funding, the inflexibility of current government schemes and reductions in payment rates. The current political landscape also means a lot of uncertainty over the future of policies which support agriculture in Scotland including the schemes that support corncrake.

Corncrake Calling was therefore initiated to address these recent declines. It is a 4-year funded project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Corncrake Calling has three main workstreams:

• Land Management encouraging more of the good agricultural practices which we know work.
• Public Engagement and Education through a range of activities to engage local communities, visitors to corncrake areas and the wider Scottish public about the corncrake story.
• Advocacy, working with farmers, crofters, wider agricultural industry, conservation organisations and government to develop policies which support corncrake and the farming systems they live in.

Progress so far

With preliminary funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), development work, which began in 2019, included RSPB staff carrying out audits of existing corncrake management across the key areas and trialling new ideas for engaging with farmers and the public. These included local initiatives such as ‘sleeping with corncrakes’ and a corncrake festival.

Our full NLHF application was approved in 2020 and we started work on project delivery.

Since Corncrake Calling launched in August, Shona Morrison (Lewis warden), Louise Muir (Argyll advisor) and myself (project manager) have been recruited to join existing RSPB staff on the project team.

We have been working to set up the 3 project workstreams, amending plans to fit a Covid world, and getting started with some of our exciting project activities. Here is some of our progress over the last few months:

• Land management - 67 farmers/crofters received a project payment to cut late and corncrake-friendly through our “Corncrake Initiative” scheme in 2020, 12 land management agreements have been signed and other negotiations are underway. Our advisors are also assisting crofters and farmers with their 2021 applications for government agri-environment funding.
• Public Engagement and Education – the digital team have worked hard to put together our Corncrake Calling web-pages and Report a Corncrake tool. We advertised for community artists to put together a national touring exhibition (working with school children) and have just selected a partnership of Stuart Fraser and Stuart Hatt. We recruited Natasha Howard to run our local education programme, and “Tash” is now running a series of co-design workshops for schoolchildren on Skye and Orkney. An education blog will follow about these early co-design workshops.
• Advocacy – we have recently started the planning for the advocacy elements of the project working closely with NatureScot, and other partners.  This work is vital to helping corncrakes and other species over the long-term and will really kick off in the autumn starting with a workshop. The development of new rural policies for Scotland is critical in helping farmers and crofters support the delivery of biodiversity and climate change government priorities in future years.

Future plans

• Land Management – We will build on our annual and longer-term agreements with farmers and crofters. Agreements will provide funding for corncrake friendly farming measures carried out by the landowner and/or access to land by RSPB staff and volunteers to carry out corncrake habitat management. They provide flexibility to enable farmers and crofters not benefitting from other funding to be rewarded for helping corncrakes. We will also work with partners to deliver training events for crofters / farmers and utilise more volunteers (recruited through local community engagement) to help with practical activities to create and maintain important habitat.

• Public Engagement and Education – Corncrake Calling plans to engage and educate people of all ages about corncrakes, wildlife friendly farming, crofting culture and nature generally. We want people to empathise with this vulnerable species and be inspired to take action to help the birds. In addition to activities already started, our plans include:
  • Local talks, presentations, workshops and exhibitions to bring together corncrake communities.
  • Nature walks and evening safaris to hear corncrakes calling.
  • Outdoor interpretation on the Hebridean Way and on Skye.
  • Rollout of the ”Sleeping with Corncrakes” initiative.
  • Corncrake festivals.
• Advocacy –In September we will host a digital workshop of key stakeholders. This will kick off action plans, working together with partners and stakeholders on agricultural policy to benefit nature friendly farming communities and biodiverse wildlife including corncrakes. We will be developing best practice information leaflets, carrying out site visits with MSPs, showcasing corncrake conservation and hold a project conference to celebrate nature friendly farming.

I hope that gives you a flavour of what Corncrake Calling is all about and we look forward to updating you on the various elements as they progress. Don’t forget to check out how you can help and/or sign up as a Corncrake Champion.