The population of the corncrake, whose distinctive call could once be heard across the country, has dwindled to such an extent that it is found only in the Hebrides and in Northern Ireland - where there is just one bird.
On the Hebridean islands of Tiree, Coll and Islay the bird has made a slight recovery, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Now farmers are to be paid in an effort to bolster corncrake numbers.
One hundred and fifty years ago, its creaking call could be heard day and night across the United Kingdom. The corncrake has declined because of the trend to cut hay much earlier. It raises its young in hay meadows, and many have died in mowing machines. The bird has also suffered from the conversion of hay meadows into sheep pasture.
The RSPB has been encouraging corncrake corners and corncrake corridors where rough vegetation will provide cover. On the society's nature reserve on Coll, where it has pioneered this approach, numbers increased from six in 1991 to 20 last year.
In 1993, 479 calling males were recorded in the UK. The main locations were North and South Uist with 133, Tiree with 111 and Lewis with 106.
Corncrakes are land-based relatives of the coot and moorhen. They were rarely seen even when abundant, as they spent the summer lurking in the long grass. In the Hebrides, they often skulk in beds of yellow iris. They are most often located by their rasping "crek crek" note, which they make insistently between midnight and 3am. In the autumn they migrate to Africa.
A scheme run by the RSPB and the Government in Scotland and Northern Ireland will pay crofters and farmers with corncrakes on their land to cut their hay after July 31 to allow the young to live. Stuart Housden, RSPB director for Scotland, said: "The increases this year provide a ray of hope that the decline of this species can be averted."
