As you all know, if you've read post 888, I've been meandering through "The Birds of Lancashire" by Clifford Oakes. And I was thinking ... I must preserve something of its flavour before its inevitable destruction ( see post 888 again.) So .. which bit to keep for posterity ? Well, the very last bird featured in it is the Corn-Crake ( as they wrote it then). And it exemplifies all the elements of the book .... the names of long-dead birdwatchers, the prevalence of shooting, the nest-finding, the scarcity of observers .... how different, dear readers, to the current birding scene ! Here we go then ..... (including a few comments from me) ORDER RALLIFORMES Sub-Order RALLI Family RALLIDAE Genus CREX Bechstein 264 CORN-CRAKE Crex crex( Linnæus) ( all that stuff was essential in those days) ( they all had the Latin back then) (Grammar Schools meant LATIN grammar) Thirty years ago the rasping voice of the Corn-Crake was as well known as the cuckoo's familiar call. Today (1953) the bird is a scarce and local summer resident , breeding regularly in small numbers near the eastern and northern hills. On the south Lancashire plain it is so rare as to be almost extinct and only odd pairs are reported breeding in the Fylde.As long ago as 1884 Mitchell noticed a decrease in many districts and suggested that the mowing machine was responsible. From the evidence given in recent investigations it seems to be indisputable that the modern development of close-cutting machines has in fact been the cause of the decrease ( cf. C.A.Norris, British birds, Vol 38, pp.142,162,and Vol. 40, pp. 226-44). The decline was clearly apparent on the southern plains in 1900 and became generally accelerated from 1914 onwards. The present scarcity in the south-west may be judged from the fact that W.L.French has not heard a single bird in the Kirkby-Knowsley for ten years, while the species has become so rare near Aughton and Ormskirk that Miss N. Medcalf has placed it in brackets in her local bird-list. ( Crikey ! Imagine the international repercussions) Near St. Helens and Widnes ( hey ... I spent my teenage years in blasted Widnes. ) the corn-crake is seldom heard ( well, that's mainly because most Widnesians ( Winsneezians ) are racked with lung disease from all the smoke-belching factories, in which most of the population work, and toil in those demonic slave-like conditions from the age of 5, and have 28 kids to look after when they get home.) and it has completely disappeared from the Manchester district during the past twenty years. At Heywood, where at least ten pairs bred in 1915, I. Whittaker heard three birds calling in 1934. Nesting takes place in one or two localities near Bury; in the Bolton area ( where six pairs were recorded in 1937 by F.A. Lowe) a few pairs still breed fairly regularly. Marked fluctuations occur in the north-east , several years of scarcity followed by widespread reports of the birds' presence. Corn-crakes were locally numerous in 1946, and P.A. Clancey noted at least six pairs in Gawthorpe , near Burnley. In the foothills to the east of the Fylde plain and in Lunesdale odd pairs nest in most years, but farhter west the position is similar to that obtaining south of the river Ribble. Not a single bird was heard or seen in the western Fylde by F.B.D Thorpe and R. Walker between 1939 and 1945, and the few subsequent reports which have come to hand do not suggest that any improvement has taken place. None were heard ( or heard of) by N. Duerden in Bleasdale and Wyresdale during 1946. The sporadic breeding which still occurs in Furness is mostly confined to low ground in Cartmel. No birds have appeared in the Seathwaite district for many years, though K.R.Burgess heard one at Broughton Mills in 1946. The species has been known to arrive in the third week of April, but as a rule very few birds are heard calling until the first week of May.Many depart during August ; A. W. Boyd notes four which were seen flying from a field of oats near Worsley in late August 1944 ( Country Diary p.296) and mentions others in the same area during the following month, including one shot ( what a surprise) at Martin Mere on 14th December ,1939, and afterwards identified by F.W.Holder. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well readers ... wasn't that lovely ..except, of course, for the ever-declining Corn-Crakes. But mostly it's those people that I think about .... most of them long dead and gone ... and the lovely Miss N. Medcalf and her "bracketed Corn-Crake " ... we can imagine her,rather sadly, neatly penning those two curvaceous ( )s. ..and let's not forget those others..... Mitchell ( the un-forenamed) C.A.Norris, (British birds, Vol 38, pp.142,162,and Vol. 40, pp. 226-44). W.L.French .. who didn't hear any. Miss N. Medcalf and her sad brackets. I. Whittaker ( Mr. Three-birds) P.A. Clancey of Gawthorpe. F.B.D Thorpe & R. Walker ... Western Fylders N. Duerden who didn't hear any either. K.R.Burgess who did 1 better. A. W. Boyd noted four of them and mentioned another, identified by ... F.W.Holder who examined the corpse. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So ...suitable music ! Are there any songs about Widnes ... NO. What we need is a song about " the past" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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October 2022
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