Crane love raises hopes of successful species re-introduction

22/10/2006 00:00:00 Thursday June 15th 2006: Overnight, a wild Common European Crane has landed at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve in Norfolk and started to bond with a young female captive bred bird. This is the first occasion a wild Common Crane has mixed with the captive population at Pensthorpe. Like Swans, European Common Cranes bond for life and it is hoped that the pair at Pensthorpe will develop such a relationship and possibly breed in the future.

This is highly significant in terms of the long term aim to reintroduce a healthy population of European Cranes into the UK. This is the objective of a number of wildlife conservation groups including the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and The Wildlife and Wetlands Trust.

One of the issues facing the re-introduction programme has been the need to find Common Cranes from captive breeding programmes and Crane chicks taken from the wild to ensure a strong genetically viable population. The prospect of a natural mix of wild and captive birds is therefore very exciting for conservationists working in this area. European Common Cranes grow to a height of 4 feet plus and have a very distinctive call. Flocks of these graceful birds were once one of the most prominent sights in the British countryside but Common Cranes died out in the UK at some point in the 17th century as a result of a combination of the erosion of their native habitat and excessive hunting.

The juvenile male bird that has landed at Pensthorpe may be one of a small number of Common Cranes that pass through Britain in Spring and Autumn on their way back from over wintering in Southern Spain; or he may have travelled from a sedentary population on another reserve in Norfolk.

The juvenile male Crane will have been attracted both by the female Cranes at Pensthorpe and the local habitat, which has been specifically created on the reserve to encourage Cranes back to the Wensum Valley with sheltered areas of long grass.

Pensthorpe is also a Conservation Grade farm that supplies Jordans with cereals. Conservation farming protocols set out a range of wildlife habitat that is sown on farms alongside the crop to attract insects and provide food for birds and small mammals. European Cranes traditionally feed on farmland and the habitat provided at Pensthorpe provides an ideal source of food for the young male that will have been an important factor in its decision to remain in the Wensum valley.

The River Wensum in Norfolk is a Special Area for Conservation (SAC) designated by the European Union and UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee because of its outstanding biodiversity.

For more information about Pensthorpe, please go to www.pensthorpe.com