How wetland restoration gave cranes a second chance in Britain

How wetland restoration gave cranes a second chance in Britain - RSPB

Common or Eurasian crane Grus grus, eight week old captive reared chick portrait, WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK, August. Credit: Nick Upton (rspb-images.com)

For four hundred years cranes vanished from the UK. Cranes were once widespread, their striking silhouette a familiar sight to those who lived near our wetlands. They were also, unfortunately for the cranes, a favourite dish at medieval feasts. Over one hundred cranes were served at Henry II’s Christmas feast in 1251. Their popularity with hunters and a decline in the wetland habitat they call home led to their extinction from the UK in around 1600.

A bird steeped in legend

They had been gone so long it was easy to forget they once performed their fabled dance – complex bows, pirouettes and bobs between a male and female, right here in the fens and marshes of the British Isles.

Their bugling call, said to be audible from 6km away, was not heard in the UK until a small number of cranes returned out of the blue to the Norfolk Broads in 1979. Cranes mature slowly compared to other birds and typically have low breeding success and despite the efforts of conservationists, numbers stayed low for decades.

But 2021 was the most successful year for cranes since at least the 17th century, with a record-breaking 72 pairs across the UK, of which 65 bred and these fledged 40 chicks.

How did cranes make a comeback?

Work to improve wetland habitat for cranes enticed them to other parts of the UK such as RSPB’s Lakenheath and Nene Washes reserves as well as Natural England’s Humberhead Peatlands. In 2009 the Great Crane Project – a partnership between the RSPB, WWT and the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust funded by Viridor Credits Environmental Company - joined the movement to protect our precious cranes, releasing hand reared birds in the West Country. They also naturally recolonised Scotland in 2012. Over 80% of the breeding population are found on protected sites, with 26 pairs on RSPB reserves alone.

Half of our breeding cranes had a rather unusual childhood. These hatched from eggs brought over from Germany, as part of the Great Crane Project, to boost the UK’s fragile population but it was vital the chicks didn’t see or hear humans if they were to survive as wild birds. So their human adoptive parents dressed up in long grey costumes, fed them with an artificial crane head and while in disguise taught them how to forage, run and swim.