Crex crex

This wouldn't win any prizes in a photo competition, but it is the only half decent photograph I managed of a corncrake when we were on Coll in the Spring.  This is surely not just one of our rarest birds, but also one of the most elusive.  From where we were sat in the car listening, we could hear the rasping calls of at least four corncrakes, yet could we see them as they hid in the long grass and nettle beds?  This male made a brief showing, as he darted from one piece of cover to another in his small territory.

We soon worked out that the best place to see them was just outside the RSPB warden's house, his neglected garden was full of them.  Later in the week, I left Wifie in the car when Gus and I walked down to the coast, and she was rewarded with the best ever view as one emerged from cover, and walked down the road to the car before disappearing on the other side of the road.

Such a strange but charismatic species.  I always marvel that this dumpy bird which is so reluctant to fly actually migrates from the Hebrides to southern Africa for the winter.  Once it was a common bird throughout the UK, so common in fact that Mrs Beeton had a recipe for "land rail". But changing agricultural practices banished them almost to the far corners of our islands where hay is still cut once a year, and late enough for them to raise their chicks before they get minced by the mower.  Even then, cutting patterns have had to be modified to allow the birds to escape to the field edges rather than be trapped in the field middle, reluctant to make a bolt for safety.  The RSPB have done a brilliant job on Coll in building their numbers, with over100 pairs now on the small island.