Birds of a Feather: How to Raise a Common Crane

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. Today, at least 80 breeding pairs can be spotted in Britain, thanks to the exceptional work of conservationists who protected and restored their habitats. Even with the natural arrival of birds from continental Europe, the slow breeding rate of cranes meant that numbers remained small. To boost their populations, the Great Crane project, a partnership between WWT, RSPB and Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, decided to go one step further and become crane parents.

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Photo credit: WWT