Tell WWT Slimbridge if you spot cranes (the birds, not the machines)
Residents in Gloucestershire, Bristol and Worcestershire are being asked to keep their eyes out for cranes i.e. the large wetland birds, not the lifting machines, and report them to the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) at Slimbridge.
Over the last five years WWT and its partners have brought cranes back to the West Country after an absence of four centuries. They hand reared the birds and released them in Somerset. Now the cranes range up and down the Severn Estuary and several spend most of their time on the reserve at Slimbridge.
This spring WWT is expecting several of the birds to attempt to breed in the area and is asking the public to help spot the cranes away from its Slimbridge reserve.
The birds stand over a metre tall and have a very large wingspan. They look similar to herons, but unlike herons they fly with their necks stretched out in front of them and are usually seen in pairs or groups.
Visitors to Slimbridge regularly see the eight cranes that are resident on the reserve, which are often joined by others that have flown up from the main population in Somerset. WWT would like to know how much the birds are visiting other open spaces in the area and whether they might breed anywhere.
People can report their sightings by emailing cranes@wwt.org.uk. WWT would ideally like to know where they were, how many were there and whether they had coloured marker rings on their legs. However, any information is welcome and people are urged not to risk disturbing the birds by getting to close.
WWT Slimbridge reserve manager Dave Paynter said:
“We suspect that the cranes are making good use of Gloucestershire’s wonderful countryside and that people see them quite often, but they don’t tell us because they either aren’t sure what the birds are, or they don’t realise that we want to know.
“So we’re appealing for the public’s help. The cranes are still young birds, just three or four or five years old. They’re inexperienced at breeding so we want to do all we can to protect them. The first step is to know where they are so please get in touch if you think you see a crane. If you’d like to see what they look like in the flesh, pop down to Slimbridge where you’re almost guaranteed to see one.”
Cranes have already been reported on the wetlands at Cotswold Water Park and on the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserves at Ashleworth Ham and Combe Hill canal and meadows, but they can turn up anywhere.
Cranes in the West Country have been reintroduced by the Great Crane Project, a partnership between WWT, RSPB, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Viridor Credits, which aims to restore the Eurasian cranes to their former haunts before they were driven to extinction in the 16th century by over-hunting and the loss of wetlands.
