Sounds like a Corncrake ?

…walking along a rural canal towpath in Nottinghamshire. Across the canal, a small area of mature woodland, a country lane and arable farmland all round.

 

Couldn’t see it but the call was something I've not heard before – bird was concealed in the wooded area - sounded a lot like this…

www.british-birdsongs.uk/.../

 

…in particular, the constant repetitive nature of the call was distinctive – it continued for much longer than the bird in the attached sound clip.

sadly, no chance of seeing it.

 

Does anything else have such a repetitive rasping call?  I've listened to partridge calls but they don't seem to match the constant repetitive bit.

Best regards

  • …I may be miss-reading the map – at first I thought it might just be badly drawn but it seems to be indicating areas around the Tay and The Forth in Scotland and an area in England where the Ouse joins the Humber estuary – which I’m guessing might correspond to the RSPB reserve at Blacktoft.
    My laptop doesn’t display the colours that well. Can’t really tell what status the map is suggesting.
    AL
  • Just throwing it out there, but it could have possibly been a Grasshopper Warbler?

    I know it doesn't sound exactly like a Corncrake BUT if someone isn't familiar with the call of a GW then possibly maybe?
  • I'd never heard a Grasshopper Warbler before - i had a listen on
    www.british-birdsongs.uk/.../
    and it sounds pretty cool ! - but not a lot like the call i heard.

    The closest thing i've found on the web to what i heard was...
    www.british-birdsongs.uk/.../
    but nobody believes me so it must have been an audio-hallucination i guess !
    Cheers
    AL
  • As Robbo says, we're not disbelieving you - we're just trying to help you find your bird :)

    You said that you've listened to Partridge calls so I take it that you've listened to the Red Legged Partridge alarm call?

    www.british-birdsongs.uk/.../
  • Possibility I suppose but the Partridge call is so fast I would find it hard to compare the two calls but there again I have nothing better to offer as an answer

    Pete

    Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can

  • The best place to hear the Corncrake as i mentioned is in the Outer Hebides as i was in May-June 2019. But despite hearing Corncrakes every day, i never saw one Corncrake with my own eyes. On one occasion we all heard a Corncrake on the other side of a fence at Balranald of which only sounded a few feet away on the side of a fence but again with other members of my RSPB Group in silence for longer mo one hour and none of my Group saw the Corncrake. . Maybe one day! Who knows! But the Corncrake is not an easy bird to see! Another Bird  that I hear I heard on a regular basis for many years as the sound is so distinguishable is the Cetti’s Warbler. But it was many years before I saw my first Cetti’s Warbler with my very own eyes and the Cetti’s Warble is more widespread but a bird more often heard than seen!

    Regards,

    Ian.

  • Love the Cetti's - such a dull-looking bird but what a joy to see!

    I waited for about 2 hours by a bush from where one was calling - staying as still as I could - just as I was about to walk away BAM! it appeared and sang right in front of me before it went skulking back under the bushes.

    Who needs a rare migrant when you have the Cetti's :)
  • Cettis is a comparativly recent arrival in our bit of N.Yorkshire. When the local wildlife trust took over a worked out quarry as a wetland reserve the Cettis Warbler seemed to move in. They do seem  to be vocal  most of the year round.

    Pete

    Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can

  • Hi

    corncrakes can be heard from the car park at Eldernell in the fens if the wind is in the right direction- it's quiet, and it's about 0300 in June :)

    I've never got one there though :(

    S

    For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides,  binoculars, scopes, tripods,  etc - put 'Birding Tips'   into the search box

  • I have been on Mull the last 2 years in May. Took a boat to Iona both years which is great for corncrake. 1st year I went looking for them in quieter spots on the island whilst my girlfriend went to see the Abbey. I heard but didn't see any. One jumped on a wall infront of my girlfriend and croaked away in front of a crowd of people :( This year I must have been stood 2 meters away from one calling and just couldn't see it. Another then started maybe 200 meters away and I did clap eyes on it out in the open. Back to this curious case of corncrakery, I read they stop calling in July usually but can stay until September so would that rule out calling on passage?