I remembering walking on unimproved land along the English-side of the Solway; it would have been in the mid-1950s. There was a rasping sound and the family friend with us said: "Listen to that; you might never hear it again". It was the insistent call of a male corncrake. And I never have, as most of these reclusive birds are well away from where I live with holds-out in the Hebrides.
The BTO has been charting it's decline, owing to changing farming practice, for some time, but now there are restoration projects that are attempting to bring these once common birds back. For example, by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust on the Ouse Washes at Welney.
Good luck to them and to this magnificent bird, even though it did tend to keep people awake at night. Maybe I shall hear it again.
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