The corncrake, an endangered species, is making a comeback thanks to a unique National Parks and Wildlife scheme to protect the nesting grounds of the elusive calling bird. Tom Shiel reports.
According to figures from BirdWatch Ireland the results mark a milestone for corncrakes in the west with numbers returning to levels found immediately prior to the introduction of BirdWatch's emergency plan.
Then the population was in a tailspin, with a 90 per cent drop in numbers in the period 1988 to 1993.
A total of 33 calling (male) birds were counted this year between Sligo and Connemara.
This is up from 27 last year and more than twice as many as the low point in 2000 when the regional population dropped to just 14 birds.
This year's total included 15 calling birds on the shores of Blacksod Bay, Co Mayo - the most since the 1980s; three on the south Mayo coast; one each at Ballycastle and Westport; five in Sligo; seven in Connemara and the first on Clare Island, Co Mayo, in 25 years.
There was a rise from 82 last year to 90 in Donegal while the numbers in the Shannon Callows remained at 22.
The grant scheme offers a cash incentive to farmers to delay mowing until after the nesting season.