In September 1465, George Neville marked his enthronement as Arch Bishop of York with a feast said to contain 4,000 mallard and teal, 1,000 partridges, 400 woodcock, 204 bittern, 200 pheasants, 100 curlew and 204 common crane. The scale of the festivity marks how common these birds once were – but less than 100 years later, Britain saw its last breeding pair of cranes. Over hunting and loss of wetland habitat drove the common crane to extinction as a native breeding bird.

For four hundred years, the Northern Bald Ibis disappeared from European skies. Today, thanks to the work of conservationists, nearly 300 reintroduced birds make their yearly pilgrimage between their breeding grounds in Austria and their wintering grounds in Spain. This was the first attempt to reintroduce a continentally extinct migratory species and the journey has been one of creativity, nerve and incredible determination.