Volunteers help endangered bird make stunning return with unexpected planting strategy: 'It is lovely to see the result'
Corncrakes — mottled, yellow-brown birds with dark streaks on their backs and round bodies — are native to the UK and Ireland, migrating to Africa in the winter. They're known for the male's rattling mating call. Once widespread, their coverage in the UK has been greatly reduced to only part of Scotland and Northern Ireland. They are endangered and classified as Red under the Birds of Conservation Concern 5.
The population is so small that the three to five breeding males that have appeared on Rathlin Island over the last five years, and the two to three females per male, are a key population worth protecting.
While one species of bird may not seem hugely important to the world, every species we lose is one we can never get back. It's impossible to predict what impact that might have on the broader ecosystem — like when killing wolves in the Yellowstone area damaged its soil, greenery, and surrounding farming ecology, and returning wolves to the area restored it.
One barrier to breeding for corncrakes is that they're particularly shy. They need cover to nest in, and Rathlin Island doesn't have enough, which is where volunteer work and nettles come in.
The nettle rhizomes are harvested all over Northern Ireland and then pressure-washed to remove any unwanted species that might be tagging along. They're bundled and shipped to Rathlin Island, where volunteers plant them in tilled ground around the edges of a cultivated field. There, they will take root and, thanks to the quick growth rate of this species, form tall and thick cover where the corncrakes can hide when they return from their migration.
"Next season there will be nettles growing and hopefully corncrake will choose the place to breed," said Anne Guichard, a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds conservation officer, per the BBC.
This ongoing project has already produced breeding grounds for the birds.
"It is lovely to see the result and realize how productive nettles are," said Glenise Morgan, a participant from a nettle dig in Ballycastle that helped supply the project, per the BBC. "I look forward to hearing that we have more corncrakes in the area."
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