This photograph was taken by Philip Giles from the Peacock Tower of the WWT's London Wetland Centre this August.
It shows a corncrake - Philip's first ever! - in a heron's beak.
How amazing! I would say there is practically no chance that you would see a corncrake at this site even if there were several of them skulking around in the grass (which there almost certainly never are!). So for a heron to catch one, wave it around and for it to be photographed so clearly is just, I'll say it again, amazing!
I was pleased to see that the corncrake wasn't ringed - otherwise I'd be worried about whether it was a released bird from the Nene Washes.
Amazing!
Mirlo - sorry for delay in replying - Christmas you know! We are looking at using the sort of technology that we have deployed on seabirds (see next blog) to find out more about corncrake migration (but money is tight). That won't give much information relevant to windfarms but it will, if successful, give fascinating insights into their migration.
Worst photo of the year more appropriate.
Mark the thing that amazes me about such a rare UK bird as the corncrake is that nothing seems to be known about it's detailed migration route from the Hebrides to Africa. With the latest tiny tracking devices now available, the opportunity exists for gaining an awful lot more knowledge about this bird. There are increasing demands for community wind farms throughout the western isles of Scotland, but with no knowledge about the migration routes or heights flown etc there is really no evidence to say that these windfarms will be harmful to the corncrake population or not. A study has been carried out monitoring the corncrakes on Barra flying into a windfarm site by the use of fixed cameras and infrared lights for nocturnal monitoring. As no birds were filmed at the height whereby a collision would take place then it was decided that the turbines would not affect the corncrakes. The report on the internet is titled " Not one flew over the turbine site". Really!! how something like this can be considered as credible evidence I do not know. Can you imagine how difficult it must be to film a flying corncrake at night . It is bad enough in daytime. So we need some migration study, YES?
If anyone wishes to see a corncrake in the UK then the place to go is the RSPB visitor centre at Totronald on the Isle of Coll. This year there were two or three calling males come onto a drystone wall to strutt their stuff each late afternoon and they even become embroiled in a heated battle in full view. Photo here of a single bird
www.flickr.com/photos/48218969@N07/4693016427/in/set-72157624244129172/
What this reflects is that the RSPB are doing an excellent job of managing the grassland habitats to enhance corncrake breeding success.