The corncrake has experienced dramatic recovery in parts of Ireland through targeted agri-environment schemes, but welfare challenges around mowing mortality and habitat loss persist.
Corncrakes remain highly vulnerable to mowing mortality each breeding season, with birds, eggs, and chicks killed directly by mowing machinery. Early silage cutting before late June destroys most nesting attempts and forces birds to renest in suboptimal habitat. The welfare of individual corncrakes during mowing events involves acute terror, injury, and often direct mortality. Successful conservation requires changing farming calendars in ways that require compensation to ensure farmer cooperation.