Three crane chicks hatch
Three African Crowned Crane eggs have successfully hatched at WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre. This is only the fourth that the Centre has successfully reared African Crown Crane chicks since the Centre was established in 1975.
The crane chicks can be viewed with their parents from the aviary in the Weird or Wonderful (WOW) exhibit at the centre. The adult cranes were paired together in 2014 and are showing all the signs of being good parents by feeding the chicks insects and a special diet that we supply them of grower pellets, wheat and meal worms. The centre will leave the chick to be parent-reared in the aviary where it is protected from predators.
Grounds Manager, Steve Nasir, said: “We are absolutely delighted that we have these three crowned crane chicks. These two adults have only been together for two years and they raised one chick last September, showing that it really was love
at first sight. The chicks are doing really well and will soon be going for their first paddle in the shallow water. Come along and see the chicks over the bank holiday weekend whilst you are also completing the GIANT LEGO® brick animal trail and our nature explorer passport.”
African Crowned cranes are most notable for their stiff crown of gold feathers on the top of their head. They are about 1m (3.3 ft) tall and weighs 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) with a wingspan of 2 m (6.5 ft). The chicks in contrast is orange in colour with lovely black markings on their back.
In other news at the centre, six barn owls have fledged from the nest and we are expecting a magpie goose gosling to hatch any day. The kingfishers are continuing to show well everyday at the Ron Barker hide and the reserve is expecting migrants to be passing through over the next month in anticipation for the return of the pink-footed geese.
WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre is open every day (except Christmas Day) from 9.30am to 6pm during summer months and parking is free of charge. Situated off the A59, it is signposted from the M61, M58 and M6. The Centre is also accessible via the Southport to Manchester and the Liverpool to Preston line by train from Burscough Rail Stations. Visit the web site http://www.wwt.org.uk/martinmere/ to find out what’s on all year round at Martin Mere and the other eight WWT Wetland Centres.
