The Great Crane Project, a partnership between the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), RSPB and Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, was awarded funding by Valencia Communities Fund via the LCF in 2008. Once again, we have received some amazing news about the progress of the birds which formed part of the project.
A successful breeding season in 2018 saw 22 breeding cranes making breeding attempts, significantly more than 2017. Out of all the chicks hatched, seven eventually fledged. Monitoring works carried out by WWT have shown that the overall crane population is now going to be self sustaining in the long term.
Even better news, however, is that the crane championed by Viridor, aptly named Viridor, bred for the first time and produced a chick to fledge. The chick has been caught and ringed, and has been named Javi, after her father Jasper and mother.
Breeding cranes have been spotted at WWT Slimbridge and across the Somerset Levels and Moors, with individuals spread as far and wide as Oxfordshire, South Wales, Gloucester and the Cambridgeshire Fens.
Further information can be found via the website www.thegreatcraneproject.org.uk
(All pictures copyright John Crispin (RSPB))
