Common crane successfully breeds at Wicken Fen for the first time in at least 120 years
A rare common crane chick has hatched at the National Trust’s Wicken Fen nature reserve in Cambridgeshire for the first time since the conservation charity acquired the nature reserve in 1899 and started species records.
The Trust suspects that it could actually be the first chick to be born at the reserve in over 500 years.
The common crane is on the UK’s amber conservation list and is one of Britain’s rarest breeding birds with only around 54 pairs recorded in 2018.
The adults can grow to over one metre tall and are mostly grey with a black, white and red feathered head. There is a small breeding population in Norfolk, and small numbers pass through Britain in spring and autumn. But, at Wicken, cranes can actually be seen at any time of year.
Martin Lester, countryside manager at Wicken Fen said: “UK cranes typically nest in wetland habitats using materials found in the area. As with most species, the female does most of the incubation and cares for the chicks when they’re young.
The successful breeding of this chick is a reflection on the conservation work that we have been carrying out particularly over the last 20 years. This work includes extending the reserve, and allowing diverse habitats to evolve that have resulted in the return of other species such as otters and water vole.”
Visitors to the reserve should be able to spot the new crane family in a few weeks once the young crane starts exploring.
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Mark, the comments counter hasn’t reappeared on the new version of the website. Makes it hard to see which posts have provoked a reaction or , indeed, if there are new comments since you last looked.
Is this by design or another example of techies “improving” a product by screwing it up!?
ps great news about the cranes!
Was there really no way round having to click ‘read more’ from the default page? Tech eh. The default blog page is the one in each person’s computer memory, so it goes there directly. No we’ve got to fuss to actually read the blog. Honestly.
It is great news about the Cranes, however I wish people would stop using the word born when referring to birds as they hatch, an analogous but somewhat different process.
Congratulations Wicken Fen. Can we assume these cranes are ‘self-funded’ wild birds and not their ‘expensive’ cousins from the Somerset Levels?!
Ps Not sure how we know a comment is being directed to the right article.
Hi – these cranes are NOT fromthe release…but have found eastern england themselves……the spread through east anglia has been underway for several years now, and this pair tried to breed somewhere else last year… last year was inland east anglia’s most successful crane year to date.
ps, I agree withthe other comments re ‘new’ blog design.. no pics or comment clues unless you go to each specific post… not as good, but have missed it over the last couple of weeks
Good news indeed. On a related note, the much delayed decision on whether the M4 ‘relief’ road is to go ahead – driving a motorway through the site of the first breeding site of Cranes in Wales for 400 years – is set for this coming Tuesday. It may not be too late for a last word to First Minister Mark Drakeford. People can find details at the CALM website (Campaign Against the Levels Motorway).
V pleased to see the blog up again – although this separation of headline and article does make it harder to navigate.