We are looking for your reports of sightings of corncrakes to help us determine the number of breeding pairs in Ireland and identify important breeding grounds.
This checklist will help you determine if you have seen or heard a corncrake:
- Corncrakes are a bit bigger than a blackbird
- Corncrakes are dark yellow-brown, with dark barring on the back, reddish flanks and a grey belly
- Males have a loud distinctive, ‘crex crex’ call, which carries up to 1km away and is mostly heard at night
- Corncrakes are generally found in tall vegetation (20cm) in hay and silage fields, rough pastures, and stands of herbaceous species such as Yellow Flag Iris and nettles
- Corncrakes are summer visitors, breeding in Ireland from April to September
This is what a corncrake sounds like:
If you think you have seen or heard a corncrake, please phone or WhatsApp the Corncrake LIFE Hotline on (085) 878 4648, email info@corncrakelife.ie or fill in the form below.
It would be most helpful if you could add co-ordinates to the form by following these instructions:
- On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app or go to maps.google.com
- Touch and hold an area of the map that isn’t labelled. You’ll see a red pin appear.
- You’ll see the coordinates in the search box at the top.
- Please copy and paste the co-ordinates into the relevant box below