{"id":23826,"date":"2023-02-08T14:55:54","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T13:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/?p=138530"},"modified":"2023-02-08T15:37:30","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T14:37:30","slug":"corncrake-identification-sound-and-habitat","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/rss_feed\/corncrake-identification-sound-and-habitat\/","title":{"rendered":"Corncrake: identification, sound and habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is a corncrake? What doe is t sound like? Where can you go to see them? In this BBC Countryfile Magazine guide we take a closer look at these rare birds. <\/p>

By Dominic Couzens\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 08 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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It is almost impossible these days to imagine how common the corncrake once was in Britain. It bred all over the country and its loud call was a familiar sound to everyday country dwellers. It was so numerous that people used to eat it.<\/p>\n

Now its population is a barely a shadow in comparison. There is perhaps no more evocative symbol of a long-vanished and less complicated world.<\/p>\n

In this guide, we take a closer look at the corncrake, revealing what they look like and sound like, where they live and what family of birds they belong to.<\/p>\n

Interested in learning more about British wildlife? Check out our guides to ducks<\/a>, wading birds<\/a> and reptiles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What is a corncrake?<\/h2>\n

The corncrake \u2013 Crex crex<\/em> \u2013 is a warm brown rail with rich chestnut-brown wings and short, stubby bill. It measures\u00a027-30cm in size. It\u2019s an extraordinarily elusive bird, able to slip easily through dense vegetation and out of sight.<\/p>\n

Despite its short, rounded wings that make its flight look weak, it is a long-distance migrant, spending the winter in Africa south of the Sahara.<\/p>\n

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The Uist machair is a stronghold for this embattled bird, whose crex-crex-crex call can be heard on late spring or early summer evenings\/Credit: Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Corncrake sound<\/h2>\n

You might have noticed that the scientific name is \u201cCrex crex\u201d, and this is an excellent description of the spring song, which can be heard day and night.<\/p>\n

You can imitate it by drawing the teeth of a comb over a full matchbox, but then imagine it much louder.<\/p>\n

Corncrakes are adept at throwing their voices, and they plague birdwatchers by appearing to be very close one moment but far the next.<\/p>\n

Podcast: sound of a corncrake<\/h4>\n

Join naturalist James Fair on the Hebridean island of Tiree as he goes in search of the corncrake with local expert John Bowler of the RSPB.<\/p>\n