Ten Years for the RSPB Reserve on Coll

In 1991, ten years ago, the RSPB bought part of Kenneth and Janet Stewart's estate at the west end of Coll. So happy birthday RSPB reserve and time to look back and see whether the original aims of the reserve have been achieved.

The early 1990s were a time of great concern for corncrakes with surveys showing how critical the decline in numbers was. From being a common British bird corncrakes were now restricted to the Scottish islands and there were less than 500 calling males. Research was pinpointing why the decline was occurring - destruction of eggs and chicks at silage cutting - but importantly the research was showing how fortunes could be improved by cutting after the eggs had hatched and cutting the fields centre-out to avoid killing chicks.

Saving a very rare but widespread species like the corncrake requires a whole range of actions to be taken, and the reserve on Coll is a good example of what can be achieved.

In 1991 there were only 16 calling male corncrakes on coll, 6 on the reserve area, so the first priority was to try to increase numbers by managing and improving the habitats in a partnership with the local farmers. But to provide good breeding habitat you need to know precisely what corncrakes are looking for so you have to study both the birds and the vegetation types they live in. Over several years and using sophisticated radio-tracking techniques the previously unknown and intimate habits of the corncrake have been revealed. We now know the desperate need for extra early cover in iris, reeds, nettles or cow parsley for males to use as singing areas in late April and May when they first arrive; how the pair is only together during egglaying with the female incubating and chick rearing on her own; how and when the chicks are led to silage fields in June and how important an open, diverse grass field is to provide invertebrate food such as worms, snails and beetles; how females nest for a second time in July in the tall grass with the chicks not even hatching until August, and how after silage cutting all the adults and chicks from two broods still need cover around the edges of fields to fatten up for a long migration to Africa leaving Coll in September; and then how, in a practical and common-sense way, to provide for all the necessary biological requirements of the birds within an existing rural economy of cattle and sheep farming.

On the RSPB reserve a network of corncrake corners around fields provides early and late cover, silage is mown in August and from the centre-out, and in 2000 there were 31 corncrakes on the reserve. Four other landowners have an agreement with RSPB to manage for corncrakes and they played host to a further 9, and with other grant schemes available to pay for corncrake related work Coll held a grand total of 53 calling male corncrakes, a 300% increase since 1991 and a great achievement by all concerned.

Coll now holds approximately 10% of the British corncrake population and is therefore very important, but 90% nest away from here and another function of the reserve is to try to help them indirectly. The fruits of the research and the practical habitat management are published and disseminated widely, groups of farmers and farm advisors visit the reserve to see how it can be done, and direct experience from Coll has been incorporated into the new government grant schemes that provide money to farmers and crofters for environmentally sensitive farming. The Scottish Executive introduces its new multi-million pound Rural Steward-ship Scheme by saying that the importance of achieving a balance between the sensitive management of our natural heritage in order to maintain and enhance biodiversity, sustaining a viable agricultural industry and ensuring the long-term viability of rural communities is now well recognised. In its own small way the RSPB nature reserve on Coll follows these principles and with the help, support and friendship of many many Collachs has had an exciting and successful ten years. Here's to the next ten.

C.S