Our Distillery Friend, The Corncrake
As we look to the future of our family distillery, one very special member will sit at the heart of our story.
This extraordinary and endangered creature returns to Barra each summer to nest and raise its young - just as we returned home to build our own family and future here on the island.
Hidden in tall grasses and wild machair, its rasping call becomes part of the island’s soundtrack - a quiet declaration that life is beginning again. For us, that story feels deeply familiar.
When we chose to return to Barra to build our family distillery, it was driven by that same instinct: to come home, to put down roots and to create something lasting for the next generation. The Corncrake does the same. Each year, it travels thousands of miles to nest here, raising its young in the shelter of the island’s long grasses before they too must make their journey out into the world.
The female builds her nest low to the ground, weaving it into the safety of the vegetation. She lays her eggs one by one, patient and instinctive, and when they hatch the tiny chicks quickly leave the nest to follow her through the cover of the fields. It is a fragile beginning dependent on protection, timing and care.
Across Europe, Corncrakes have declined as landscapes and farming practices have changed. Their survival depends on something simple but powerful: space to hide, time to grow and a community willing to adapt. Measures such as maintaining tall vegetation and practising Corncrake Friendly Mowing - cutting fields in a way that allows flightless chicks to escape - can make the difference between loss and survival. CFM (Corncrake Friendly Mowing) is the most successful measure demonstrated by delaying mowing dates and cutting fields from the centre outward. This results in breeding success increasing significantly and chick survival rates improving dramatically.
As we look to the future, the Corncrake will become a meaningful part of our distillery’s story. Our planned single malt whisky distillery and visitor centre will be developed with sensitivity to this remarkable bird - not just as neighbours in the landscape, but as shared custodians of Barra’s future. We want it to be a place where people can learn about the wildlife that shapes this island, and why its protection matters.
The Corncrake’s call is not loud, but it is determined. It speaks of resilience, of returning home, of life beginning again against the odds.
And that is a story we are proud to stand beside.
