Singing corncrakes

Corncrake by Hetty Grant

Since late June we have had the sound of singing corncrakes on the reserve, as two males have been holding territories on the Ouse Washes at WWT Welney.  These birds will soon be migrating to Africa for the winter, so there are probably only a few days left to try and hear this sound for yourself.

As part of our work monitoring the birds on the reserve we wanted to see if we could find out where these birds had come from.  On two evenings we worked with the RSPB to catch the birds and on both occasions we were successful.  Both birds had already been ringed and we now know that they are both from reintroduction projects within East Anglia.

Last year we had a singing male corncrake on the reserve during the summer, which had also come from a reintroduction project.  The two birds from this year are new to our reserve.

It is fantastic to hear this, especially alongside the family of cranes which have been using the reserve recently, we hope to hear them again in future summers.

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