Cranes on the Somerset Levels

Sunday, 13 February 2011 08:55

Until around 400 years ago, cranes were a common sight in England. Unfortunately, drainage of wetlands and loss of habitat together with pressures from hunting led to their extinction as breeding birds in this country. Occasional migrant birds fom Europe made their way over as seasonal visitors but until recently, there were no breeding populations in the UK.

In recent years, a stable breeding population has established itself in Norfolk with help from local and national wildlife organisations. In order to help the spread of cranes around the country, the 'Great Crane Project' has been set up and the first release site set on the Somerset Levels where we have hundreds of areas of suitable wetland habitat.

Twenty one young cranes were released from their secure enclosure in the autumn of 2010. Sightings have been increasingly frequent as they gain confidence and fly somehwhat further afield. You will see from the official sightings map where they are most often seen. They are extremely entertaining birds to watch and go thorough cycles of head down feeding through to exuberant bouncing up and down, snake like head to head movemements with each other and of course flight. One seems to have a leg injury and you can see this in the lead bird in the flight shots. This bird appears to be otherwise on good health and my impression is that it is limping less than it was a week or so ago. I've included for interest a close up showing the radio transmitter on the leg of one of the birds. Most of these pictures are taken at extreme range so I apologise for the quality. Despite that, I hope they give a feel for what these great birds are like.

I believe that the plan is to release 20 birds a year for the next few years so hopefully they will soon become a common sight around Somerset. Pictures of a wild bird visiting Somerset in March 2010 can be seen here.

EDIT: I understand from my friend Bob that the limping bird (Vince) is different from the bird with the trailing leg (Chris). Clearly with such a well documented group of birds it will be able to get to know them well with time.