Background The Corncrake (Crex crex) is listed as a priority species for conservation in the Birds Directive and is also considered a priority species for funding under the LIFE programme (highlighted by the Ornis Committee). Previous studies on this species include a LIFE project from 1994-96 by the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), with activities in the UK and in France. A European Action Plan was prepared in 1996 and an international single species action plan was prepared in 2006. In 2005-2009, a national action plan for France was coordinated by the LPO. Despite all these different conservation actions over the past 20 years, the French populations have continued to decline (by over 60% in the past two decades). In the mid 1970s, the French population was estimated at 2 800 singing males. At the beginning of the 1980s this had dropped to around 2 200, and by the 1990s to approximately 1 300. In 2009, the population was estimated to be just 550 singing males. The conservation measures in the national restoration plan for the species focused on the maintenance of wet alluvial grasslands; implemented through the CAP agri-environmental measures. In France, this initiative is entirely based on the voluntary actions of farmers, with no minimum surface area. The contents of the contracts also appear to be too restrictive for the amount of funding available for the measures and as such, they have not proved successful. This is especially the case where there is no advice or information available to farmers. In this context, it has become clear that for the agri-environmental measures to be effective, they also need to be associated with strong habitat conservation actions, particularly land acquisition. However, the purchase of land is not enough if these sites are in areas where late mowing is not applied, or where there is a prevalence of arable crops. In areas where the application of the species restoration plan has not been able to persuade all the farmers to participate in the measures, or to acquire the grasslands, the decline of the corncrake has continued. Objectives The project’s main objective is to implement actions urgently required in order to conserve and restore the French breeding population of the corncrake and the maintenance of its habitats. Specific actions will include acquisition of suitable grassland areas; implementation of concrete management and restoration actions; protection of breeding and fledgling birds; proposal of improvements to agri-environmental measures to make them more attractive to farmers; and raise awareness of the corncrake among all stakeholders. Expected results: Identification and acquisition of 60 ha of grassland that are favourable for corncrakes; Implementation of management agreements over 700 ha of natural grassland; Legal tools for the designation of some 1 300 ha (regional and local nature reserves); Conversion of 13 ha of old poplar and culture into grassland; Maintenance of 2 ha of ‘refuge’ zones for young birds under threat from mowing; Compensation payments for right of use over 80 ha; Protection of the young birds by locating their ‘refuge’ habitats after mowing, and by placing radio-transmitters on up to 70 birds: mapping of the sites used after mowing, and measuring the threats to which corncrakes are exposed; Concrete proposals to make the agri-environmental measures more attractive to farmers and more effective for the conservation of corncrakes; A standardised framework for a database for the environmental and technical assessment of breeding sites for Corncrake. This should help with the monitoring of the evolution of agri-environmental measures: location, surface area, level of contract; Conservation of breeding habitats by increasing knowledge about changes in areas with grassland cover in relation to the agricultural practices (analysis of more than 200 land units, equivalent to a total area of 500 ha of natural grassland, with or without an agri-environmental contract); Annual monitoring of the breeding population of corncrakes in France; Various dissemination and communication material.