From Christine Seymour - My husband and I have recently returned from
camping on the St Davids peninsular. We were situated at Caerfai Bay on
Caerfai organic farm camp site. We were at grid ref 759245. We heard
several times what we have now identified as a
corncrake calling between dates 7 – 12 July 2016. The call was a
repetitive creaking sound, which we thought was like a short creaking
rusty gate or large zip being undone repeatedly (and my husband said was
like a bird with a sore throat!). The field where
we were camping was surrounded by walls and hedges with an unmown zone
of tall grasses and flowers, typical of the Pembrokeshire hedgerows.
The call came from the hedges at different times of day – in the
morning, evening and during the afternoon. One time
it called in the middle of the night immediately behind our tent.
Having listened to various possible bird calls
on the RSPB site, we both are as certain as we can be that it was a
corncrake. We never saw the bird and there was no evidence of it as it
called, being well-hidden in the vegetation.