Corn Crakes

deerhunter1

Just back from Donegal (Arranmore Island) it was fantastic to hear a pair of Corncrakes all night long, have not heard them for about 30-40 years,had the bedroom windows open one was in the field across from me,the other a couple of hundred yards away. what a place to go.

foxshooter243

deerhunter1 wrote: »

Just back from Donegal (Arranmore Island) it was fantastic to hear a pair of Corncrakes all night long, have not heard them for about 30-40 years,had the bedroom windows open one was in the field across from me,the other a couple of hundred yards away. what a place to go.

they have made a bit of a comeback in Donegal , was listening to one calling in the Inishowen penninsula last year-that was the first id heard since 1974:eek:- its a great sound and always reminds me of summer holidays spent in Ireland when i was a lad:)

kay 9

Hear they're also making a comeback in parts of Mayo. Silage cutting aint gonna help again tho.

mallards

If you have a good running dog and the farmer doesn't mind, offer to run the dog through the field before its cut. You may come accross a pheasants nest or maybe a young deer. It's well worth the effort and the you won't do any harm to the silage. ALternatively ask the farmer to cut a line up the center of the field before he starts cutting from the outside in. The will give animals with young a chance to escape quickly before being killed. Again it will do no harm to the silage. :cool:

Great to hear the corncrake though. We have been holding out for a good while in my shoot in Tyrone for one to drop in on its way to Donegal!

Mallards

Callow Man

Still a few in the shannon callows on the Galway/Offaly border.

For the last 12 years farmers with land joining the shannon receive grants to hold off cutting hay until the 1st of august to give the chicks a chance to find their feet. Nice to see the numbers up as a result.

No6

There is some bird watching / conservation website which looks for reports of corncrakes as they have become so rare.

deerhunter1

No6 wrote: »

There is some bird watching / conservation website which looks for reports of corncrakes as they have become so rare.

ya i was hoping some-one here might know it i saw it somewhere before

Sfinn

check these out

http://www.ipcc.ie/infocrexcrex1.html
http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=311
http://www.castlebar.ie/clubs/mayo-birdwatch/CorncrakeFactsSong.html

s

Double Barrel

A big round of applause to that Mallards. I inherited that practice from my father who did it mostly for pheasants and as Callow Man writes the Grant program has a positive effect.

To report hearing or sighting: adonaghy@birdwatchireland.ie

http://www.corncrake.net/Download/ireland.pdf

mallards wrote: »

If you have a good running dog and the farmer doesn't mind, offer to run the dog through the field before its cut. You may come accross a pheasants nest or maybe a young deer. It's well worth the effort and the you won't do any harm to the silage. ALternatively ask the farmer to cut a line up the center of the field before he starts cutting from the outside in. The will give animals with young a chance to escape quickly before being killed. Again it will do no harm to the silage. :cool:

Great to hear the corncrake though. We have been holding out for a good while in my shoot in Tyrone for one to drop in on its way to Donegal!

Mallards

deerhunter1

Sfinn wrote: »

check these out

http://www.ipcc.ie/infocrexcrex1.html
http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=311
http://www.castlebar.ie/clubs/mayo-birdwatch/CorncrakeFactsSong.html

s

Thanks lads web sights very helpful

doctor evil

mallards wrote: »

If you have a good running dog and the farmer doesn't mind, offer to run the dog through the field before its cut. You may come accross a pheasants nest or maybe a young deer. It's well worth the effort and the you won't do any harm to the silage. ALternatively ask the farmer to cut a line up the center of the field before he starts cutting from the outside in. The will give animals with young a chance to escape quickly before being killed. Again it will do no harm to the silage. :cool:

Throw up a post in the Farming and Forestry Forum about that and any other tips. It's amazing that it can be simple things that is not thought of.

BryanL

It might be worth mentioning to the various groups involved in watching these birds, that dogs would be available to run through fields before cutting.

If it was rolled out in an organized way it could make a huge difference to numbers . There has to be a gun club local to any site that has corn crakes and competent dogs. It'd be nice for any dog handler to get summer work for his dogs.
Bryan

mallards

doctor evil wrote: »

Throw up a post in the Farming and Forestry Forum about that and any other tips. It's amazing that it can be simple things that is not thought of.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=60558195#post60558195


Done,

Thanks,

Mallards

kerryman12

I was home in Kerry about two/three weeks ago and heard my first cuckoo this year.
Also last week we took a few days off and went to west cork, while hiking in a few remote valleys heard them several times, including on one occasion two calling to each other across a valley.