Corncrakes in Harris and North Uist (2 Viewers)

[Murmur]

Dear friendly Hebridean birders, we are due to visit Harris and North Uist at the start of May (3 days in Harris and 4 in North Uist) and as part of this my decades long corn crake hunt will start again.

I've heard the buggers for years in Co Cork, Skye, Lewis and in North Uist (including by the hotel we'll be staying at), but never seen one.

So far the plan involves at least one visit to Balranald (heard them there before and I like it a lot anyway), the Rosamol/Losgaintir area will be visited again.

Are there any likely places I should consider or is it just pot luck?

Anyway, I expect to have my usual good time in northern Scotland.

 

[burnie]

We stayed in a Cottage at Dalmore, there was a pair nesting in the garden, they really can be anywhere, seeing one however is another problem, I haven't seen one either despite hearing them, I even heard them in Norfolk in the 1950's

 

[Mono]

I've had brief glimpses at Balranald, but the best views I've had have been on Colonsay where they just seem to be running around all over the place.

 

[delia todd]

Like you I still haven't seen one despite having heard many. Iona, Treshnish Isles. Then on Uist we heard one beside where we were camping at the junction of the A865/867 - called all night it did!!

Then the next day at Balranald sat for ages by the paddock outside the visitor centre listening to it. Eventually my brother and s-i-law left me there while they set off to find some accommodation for the night and they saw one running across the road in front of their car!!! grrr.

 

[AStevenson]

You may be a bit early in early May, whilst the first ones can be back 2nd half of Apr many don't arrive till 2nd week of May. It's a bit weather dependent. The limited cover early in the season makes them easier to see. They do have a tendency to call from nettle/iris beds and do like the shelter of old walls and buildings. Evenings are probably best. As to locations anywhere on the machair/croft areas around North Uist have some birds but the ones nr the Balranald visitor centre are often reliable with some patience/effort. It the weather is cold/wet/windy they may not be calling much.

cheers, Andrew

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

As others have already mentioned, we saw one at Balranald last year. Just past the turn off for the RSPB reserve by the beach seemed a good spot. Corn Buntings there as well.

Rich

 

[MJB]

Dear friendly Hebridean birders, we are due to visit Harris and North Uist at the start of May (3 days in Harris and 4 in North Uist) and as part of this my decades long corn crake hunt will start again.

I've heard the buggers for years in Co Cork, Skye, Lewis and in North Uist (including by the hotel we'll be staying at), but never seen one.

So far the plan involves at least one visit to Balranald (heard them there before and I like it a lot anyway), the Rosamol/Losgaintir area will be visited again.

Are there any likely places I should consider or is it just pot luck?

Anyway, I expect to have my usual good time in northern Scotland.

One grassland technique successfully employed in montane Slovakia in the breeding season maps the wandering tracks of livestock in a likely area which is then walked without leaving the tracks. If there is a nest close to the track, quite often a Corncrake will appear ahead of you and wanders, seemingly unconcernedly along the track ahead of you until you are well past the nest site, then it disappears into the grass: it doesn't necessarily leave the track on the same side as the nest. My Slovak colleagues advised that this technique indirectly tells them only that females are present, and is of no real help in locating nests! The standard technique of counting calling males gives no indication how many pairs have formed.

I've no idea if this grassland technique would work in The Hebrides, though, nor whether it would be condoned by conservationists there.
MJB

 

[Farnboro John]

Find a calling male from the car on the Balranald approach track and wait in comfort with a flask of tea and a hobnob packet of hobnobs.

John

 

[aberdeenshirebirdtours]

We visited the Hebrides in May 2019, starting in Barra and working our way North, arriving in Barra on the 18th.

One of my targets was Corncrake, and I remember thinking that I might struggle to see one. However we pulled in at the campsite on Barra on the first night, wound down the car window and could hear one in the background. I had a look that evening and one was calling from a tiny patch of nettles at the end of the campsite. I just waited nearby and it eventually ran across the shorter grass giving great views. The next day we saw a couple more running along the road not far from Barra airport.

Once we moved to the Uists we heard them fairly frequently, but the only one we saw was near Kilbride campsite on South Uist, although that was more a reflection of effort put into seeing them, since we’d already had great views on Barra.

I think patience is probably the key for trying to see them. Good luck!

 

[Murmur]

Thanks all.

The timing of the jaunt was governed by other factors, so I was aware of potential problems with timing of arrivals; it was a couple of weeks later last time we were in the Uists.

That jaunt was also the first time I saw and heard corn buntings for donkeys' years (Balranald as noted).

 

[Farnboro John]

Something I've noted about Corncrakes over the years is that whereas they tend to call from cover (not universal) they walk about in the open in silence - so scanning open areas e.g. near iris beds can be productive.

John

 

[MJB]

Something I've noted about Corncrakes over the years is that whereas they tend to call from cover (not universal) they walk about in the open in silence - so scanning open areas e.g. near iris beds can be productive.

John

Good point! I've scanned such areas in the eastern Austrian and western Hungarian grasslands and have noted that where a dip in the field is flooded, the grass growth is stunted and the Corncrakes move through the area between the stunted grass and the full-length grass while skirting a flooded dip.
MJB

 

[JTweedie]

I've been thinking of visiting Iona this year and I'd love to see these birds too. Just been in touch with someone who visits the island a lot so hopefully he'll have some good tips for seeing them there.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Hi John. We saw them in the field immediately next to the Abbey on Iona.

Rich

 

[Farnboro John]

Next to the fire station is usually good too.

John

 

[WhiteTailed22]

I had a cracking view of one at Balranald, North Uist back in May 2019. Just outside the visitor centre. With a bit of patience, you might just get lucky.

 

[Murmur]

No joy this time.

Possibly heard one on the machair at West Beach on Berneray, but the wind was awful strong and battering my ears.

Did see a bunch of other interesting things, though.

I'll just have to go back up there another time: life is just soooooooo hard...

 

[delia todd]

Oh!!! Isn't Berneray lovely!!

We stayed in the hostel there at Baile (on the east side) for a few days. The wind was so strong we couldn't use the tents.

 

[Murmur]

Oh!!! Isn't Berneray lovely!!

We stayed in the hostel there at Baile (on the east side) for a few days. The wind was so strong we couldn't use the tents.

It's great!

However, the wind on West Beach was brutal: 25-30 mph, at least, from the south...Which is great when walking up the beach from the car park, but horrible when returning, especially for 2 knackered folk with breathing problems.

Still, little terns, arctics, great and arctic skuas, great northern and black-throated divers, not to forget a very friendly group of sanderling, all helped.

 

[RobinD]

I'm another who has only heard Corncrake in the past but has another opportunity coming up at the end of May beginning of June...

I am doing a round Scotland road trip with my Dad and eldest and we will be travelling across to Islay, Skye, around the north coast and to Orkney Mainland (as well as Speyside).

I would guess Islay is my best chance for Corncrake? Would anyone be able to recommend any good places to look there? Or anywhere else on the route?

Thanks