Birdwatchers favour prime or zoom telephoto lenses to seek out elusive species such as the
corncrake or corn bunting, which remain well camouflaged until the crops are harvested in September.
Related to the moorhen,
corncrakes are very secretive, spending most of their time hidden in tall vegetation, their presence only betrayed by their rasping call.
How many of you have seen / heard a Stag Beetle and or a
Corncrake? Not many, I'll wager - not that I think you hear Stag Beetles much.
BirdWatch Ireland has been battling for 11 years to try to save the dwindling number of
corncrakes, which are on an international environmental "red list" because of the threat they face.
The reality is we had days in June during the census in Mayo, Donegal and Galway like today and
corncrakes won't call with same level of wind."
OUR last trip to London Zoo looks at some of their conservation work - from the Nepalese one-horned rhino to tiny frogs and a sweet British bird, the
corncrake.
A team, led by Dr Mark Whittingham of Newcastle University's School of Biology and partners, says that current UK agri-environment schemes have worked well when targeted at the needs of such rare and localised species as
corncrakes and stone curlews.
The new member states excluding Malta, are home to a disproportionate share of the European Union's farmland birds, including all of the globally threatened aquatic warblers, 98% of the EU's imperial eagles, 92% of the EU's
corncrakes, almost three out of every four (78%) of the EU's white storks and more than half (55%) of the EU's roller population.
At Sandwell Valley Nature Reserve farmland has been cultivated in a way sensitive to birds in a bid to encourage the return of
corncrakes, skylarks and linnets.
Nor do I recall there being many
corncrakes for the SNH anoraks to study around Arthur's Seat, whereas they're now returning in record numbers to Wester Ross.
According to Tim Gordon of BirdWatch Ireland: "
Corncrakes were heard from mid-July at new locations, including at Rossport and near Ardagh (on the banks of Lough Conn), and were still calling until mid-August at Raghly and near Killadoon."