The corn bunting is a resident species of lowland arable farmland. It is a bird almost entirely dependent on cropped land. This bird, formerly found from Shetland to Galloway, is now restricted to the Uists, north-east mainland coasts and Orkney.

Corn buntings nest on the ground in thick weedy clumps such as thistles or long grassy tussocks within cereal or hay fields, grass margins, set-aside or unimproved grasslands. Chicks are fed by adults on insects found in crops, unimproved grassland or grass margins. In areas where crops have received fewer pesticide applications, the invertebrate chick food is more abundant. Adults feed on cereal grain and seeds of plants such as the arable weed redshank. The over-winter survival by corn buntings is dependent upon the availability of seed-rich habitats in which the birds can forage - typically stubble fields. Corn buntings occur in open farmland landscapes with few tall hedges and trees. However, prominent song posts such as fence wires, stone dykes or bushes are required.

The Rural Stewardship Scheme has a number of prescriptions to benefit corn buntings, for example: the management requirements for open grazed grassland and species-rich grassland will boost insect populations (Prescriptions 2, 6 and 8). Also, the later cutting of grass required under Prescription 3 will benefit the corn bunting. The creation of beetle banks and conservation headlands in arable fields will provide feeding opportunities for corn buntings (Prescriptions 20 and 21). In addition the prescriptions for extensive cropping and unharvested crops in arable areas will provide cover and feeding areas (Prescriptions 24 and 26).

In the 19th Century corncrakes bred throughout Britain. Their decline since then has been remarkable. By 1993, the number of singing males had dwindled to around 480 birds. This bird is mainly located in The Western Isles, the Argyll Islands, Orkney, Skye and a handful of other mainland and island sites. This decline has now been stemmed but there is potential for further expansion in numbers.

The future of Scotland's corncrake population lies in the hands of this country's farmers and crofters. Sympathetic management of grassland habitats is the key to long-term recovery. The Rural Stewardship Scheme includes management prescriptions to help farmers and crofters provide corncrakes with their
key requirements:

• Patches of early cover - small areas of vegetation such as nettle, iris and cow parsley which grow early in the year and provide cover in early spring. Corncrakes depend on such areas for feeding and roosting as they return to Britain from their wintering grounds in Africa. It is from these areas that the distinctive loud rasping call of the corncrake will first be heard.
• Tall grass, next to early cover, and either cut or grazed late in the season provides areas of grass or other tall vegetation in which corncrakes can feed, nest and remain concealed. First broods often move into grass meadows from adjacent early cover areas. The female and chicks forage together for food - mainly earthworms, beetles, slugs and snails. Most young birds will be sufficiently mobile to escape the mower if mowing is not started until 1 August.
• Mowing in a bird-friendly manner (see illustration). Corncrakes are reluctant to fly, and to break cover by running across cut ground. Conventional cutting can isolate the birds in the middle of the field and leave them unable to escape the mower.

Patches of late cover, such as tall vegetation adjacent to cut fields, provide a refuge to which birds can escape the mower. Birds will occupy these and other suitable areas until they depart for Africa in September or October.