Call of the Corncrake returns to Bardsey

Corncrake (rspb-images.com)

Ynys Enlli, off the tip of Pen Llŷn, is no stranger to rare birds, having notched up almost 40 species not previously recorded in Wales since Bardsey Bird Observatory was established in 1953. The “island of 20,000 saints” is home to thousands of breeding seabirds and typically eight pairs of red-billed Chough, almost 4% of the Welsh total. But it is almost 70 years since the rasping call of Corncrakes was heard regularly, although one does stop briefly on the island every few years.

A Corncrake was heard daily for a couple of weeks during April, having arrived from central Africa. The call has been likened to running a nail file across the teeth of a comb and is generally made at dusk and dawn, and frequently through the night. When it stopped calling, Bird Observatory staff assumed it had moved on to the Western Isles of Scotland, which hold almost all of the remnant UK population.

That was not the end of the story, however, as three different Corncrakes were heard on Bardsey during May. It is the first time since 2005 that the island held one through the spring but it’s the first year with multiple residents since 1956. The Bardsey records will soon be added to RSPB Scotland’s interactive observations map, part of a Lottery-funded project to save the species from UK extinction.

Corncrakes are secretive birds that hide in long grass, but with wildlife-friendly farming and an absence of rats and cats on Ynys Enlli, it is quite possible that the trio of males have attracted a female or two. Proving breeding will be a challenge, but if confirmed would be the first in Wales since 1992, when pairs bred in Anglesey and Denbighshire following a small influx.

Late migrants last week included Curlew Sandpipers on the Dulas estuary and at Rhos Point. Seven Egyptian Geese dropped into Cemlyn briefly, the Ring-necked Duck remains on Llyn Brenig, a Whooper Swan off Porthmadog Cob, and Hooded Crows were on Bardsey, the Clwyd estuary and the Great Orme.