Corncrake Reintroduction Programme

A few weekends ago I was lucky enough to be able to join a few other members of the Wash Wader Ringing Group in assisting with monitoring work as part of the Corncrake Reintroduction Programme in Cambridgeshire. The project, which started in 2001, is a joint venture between the RSPB, Natural England, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Pensthorpe Conservation Trust. Corncrakes used to be a widespread across the UK but in recent years, breeding has been heavily concentrated in the Western Isles of Scotland. The scheme has been releasing captive bred corncrakes on an RSPB reserve in Cambridgeshire to try to encourage the species to breed in the wild in England again.  

Travelling over early on the Saturday morning, I was hopeful of seeing my first corncrake, having previously only ever heard them once. On arrival, we were introduced to Dr Rhys Green (RSPB / Cambridge University) and Hannah Ward (RSPB), along with the rest of the team, and we were then treated to the most hilarious briefing I have ever heard. At this time of year, the adults are all in full wing moult so are flightless, the very young birds are not fully developed enough to fly and only the fully grown juveniles are capable of flight. So, the mission was to gently encourage the birds to walk through the grassland they were (hopefully) hiding in until they reached a fence that was blocking their way. In the apex of the fence is an enclosure which we wanted them to enter. Once inside, we would then be able to retrieve the birds safely. The method of ‘encouraging’ the birds into the enclosures is interesting and not for the self-conscious and the description given in the briefing had us all in stitches!  

Briefing over, we split into two teams and headed to our respective areas of grassland. The next two hours were spent slowly walking the area and was surprisingly tiring! As we neared the fence, our hopes were not overly high as not a single bird had been seen or heard. Hannah was more optimistic however, having spent many days going through this process in other areas of the site. Apparently, they had never had a day without at least one bird being found so we remained positive. As we got closer, a call came from Jacquie on the other side of the bank – ‘we have one’! That was when the grin started to appear on my face. When the shout came of a second and a third bird, the grin widened considerably! When we reached the fence on our side and found five little balls of fluff running about in the enclosure, well, let’s just say the Cheshire cat had nothing on me that day!!! 

In total, on the Saturday, we found eleven individuals between the two teams. The next hour or so was spent ringing the un-ringed birds (seven in total), ageing, sexing (where possible) and taking biometrics (wing length, head and bill length, weight etc.). DNA swabs were also taken from the birds. Once the monitoring was finished, the birds were all safely released back into the wild. 

Ringing a corncrake

Measuring wing length

Close up

Corncrake being released - they are like lightening!

The afternoon was spent moving the fences to a new section of the site in readiness for the following day. A very happy but tired team then headed home for the evening. Sunday saw us repeating the whole process but with a slightly different team. This time only one bird was located, but it was also un-ringed so was another new individual for the project. Each of the birds adds valuable information to the monitoring programme and each young un-ringed bird found reflects a wild bred bird (all juveniles released as part of the reintroduction project are ringed prior to release) which is fantastic news for the project.

It was a real privilege to be involved in the project and I hope to be able to take part again in the future.