Just over 20 years ago I was drawn to Islay in search of answers for my Master’s degree ‘An investigation into local support for the Corncrake conservation initiatives in the Argyll Islands, Scotland’. I got plenty of answers, I also got a job, a husband and 2 children......In some ways it is frustrating to think that the same questions are still being asked, but reassuring knowing that people’s attitudes, opinions and cultures are still valued.

 

I have always been drawn to remote places and growing up in farming communities in Yorkshire and Northumberland and working on farms in the Falklands and New Zealand, I fully appreciate space and the natural environment. I am also passionate about the people that care for these spaces. The geographic isolation of the islands, their history and their reliance on their own natural resources have created communities with strong identities and many resilient and resourceful characters. 

 

The corncrake is embedded in the cultural history of these islands, particularly where the crofting landscape still dominates. Places where very little has changed in the last 100 years, apart from the addition of modern farm machinery, the emphasis has remained on long established agricultural practices where breeds and crops are suited to the local environment. This is where our native wildlife thrives.

 

However, our islands have changed, and farming units have grown and political and economic influences have altered how we farm, even in the remotest places in Scotland. And in many cases wildlife has been squeezed from this landscape. The corncrake was once heard across the whole of the UK but in 1993 the UK population was only 480 and was limited to the Hebrides. Biodiversity matters in so many ways and we all have a choice to make it matter. 

Very often small changes can make a big difference and it is heartening to meet so many people who want to farm with nature.  The concept of joining agriculture and conservation is not abstract anymore. Climate change and unprecedented global biodiversity loss means that conservation of natural resources on any land use is now becoming ‘mainstream’. Looking at things from a different perspective, changing the way you have always done things often present opportunities for not only wildlife but the businesses that underpin land management within the UK. 

As a Conservation Advisor for the RSPB it is my job to present those opportunities, turning ideas and concepts into practical action. Currently my role is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, our project Corncrake Calling, is helping to support farmers and crofters wanting to protect the corncrake. Please get in touch if you would like some advice on your farm about corncrake and other farmland species.