Have you ever heard the mysterious bugling call of a common crane?
It’s a noise that drifts across wetlands throughout northern Europe and, if you lived in the UK up until around 400 years ago, you probably would have heard it regularly.
In fact, crane might even have been on your menu - Henry III's 1251 Christmas menu included an indigestion-inducing 115 cranes. Now that’s a Christmas feast!
Cranes were widespread back then, but then drainage of their wetland haunts and hunting made them extinct in the UK.
That was until 1979, when a small group re-established themselves in Norfolk. Whilst this group was doing well, it was small and vulnerable. Along with our partners Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Viridor Credits, we decided it was time to bring cranes back in a bigger way.
How are we helping?
And so began the Great Crane Project.
The plan was to supplement the cranes in Norfolk with another population of cranes elsewhere in the UK. To do this, crane chicks needed rearing in captivity, before being released into the wild.
After careful consideration about where to release the young cranes, the Somerset wetlands and moors were chosen.
The area offered plenty of food and suitable nesting sites, giving the released cranes the best chance of not only surviving, but establishing a self-sustaining population of their own.
Eggs were brought over from Germany and chicks reared at WWT’s Slimbridge reserve. From there the young cranes went to crane school!
This saw the birds' keepers dress in grey, with headgear shaped like a crane's neck and head to boot, to teach the youngsters all about life as a crane (see image below). Once the youngsters finished their schooling, they were released into the wild.
How are cranes doing?
A milestone moment was reached in 2015, when cranes released through The Great Crane Project successfully fledged chicks in south-west England – the first cranes fledged there for 400 years!
Nine pairs of release-project cranes bred this year, with four of those going on to hatch and rear chicks, and four of these chicks successfully fledging.
Released cranes also dispersed further than ever last year, and started integrating with the native UK population. Brilliant news!
What’s next?
With no more releases planned, we’re moving to monitoring the birds and UK-wide habitat creation. Cranes are long-lived and breeding success is slow, but perhaps soon the crane’s wild, bugling call will be heard throughout more of the UK.
It's all thanks to you!
Without the backing of people like you, our supporters, we couldn't help give nature a home in the UK. Thanks!
For more on our science, check out the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science web pages.