Cranes of Great Britain

The common crane (Grus grus) is generally believed to have been a breeding bird in Britain in the Middle Ages. English people prized cranes as the "noblest quarry" for a falconer, and gladly ate them. In December 1212 King John flew his gyrfalcons at cranes at Ashwell, in Cambridgeshire, and killed seven, and on another occasion in Lincolnshire in February 1213 he brought down nine. A banquet to celebrate George Neville's enthronement as Archbishop of York in 1465 supposedly included 204 cranes.[1] An Act of Parliament of 1533 included a measure that made the taking of cranes' eggs an offence, punishable by a fine, and there are five mentions in the "Household book of the L'Estrange family" of the supply of cranes for their larder between 1519 and 1533.[2]

Confusion arises about the identity of these birds as the grey heron was, and still is, known as "crane" in many parts of rural England.

English place names with the prefix "cran" are not infrequent, and derive from the bird, for example the name of Cranfield in Bedfordshire derives from the Anglo-Saxon crane feld - open country frequented by cranes.[3]

Common crane is a scarce spring and autumn migrant to Britain, with occasional birds remaining in winter or summer.[4]

In the late 20th century, common crane recolonised the Norfolk Broads; the species has now established a resident population of some 20 individuals. This population is centred on the northeastern part of the Broads, in the Sea Palling / Horsey / Hickling area.

The origins of this population can be traced to 15 September 1979, when two birds appeared near Hickling Broad; these two were joined by a third bird on 10 October. On 7 October, a crane with a rubber object wrapped around its bill was found in the Irstead / Horning area. It was taken into care and released on Horsey in March 1980, temporarily bringing the population to four.[5]

By the end of April 1980, only two birds remained; however, these birds stayed throughout 1980 and 1981, and in 1982 raised a single young, the first successful breeding in Britain for around four hundred years. A second young was raised in 1983, but disappeared before the end of the year. An additional bird joined the group on 16 August 1982, and remained with them until at least 1987.

Further breeding attempts were made from 1985 through until the end of the 1980s, those in 1986 and 1988 being successful, with one young each raised. In addition, further migrant birds joined the flock; not all stayed, however both the wintering and summering populations steadily grew, as shown below:

During most of the 1990s, the population remained steady; however with several successful breeding attempts in the late 1990s, the population began to climb into double figures. Data on the 1990s' populations and breeding activity are as follows:

Aside from in Norfolk above, there were pairs at two localities in Yorkshire in 2002, one of which was observed displaying.

A pair nested in 2007 at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk.[13][14] A second pair was also present, but did not breed.

A pair bred successfully on the Humberhead Levels in 2008 and 2009, rearing one chick each time. Two young hatched in each year but one from each brood was predated, probably by foxes.[15] A pair bred and reared one young in the Nene Washes in 2010. (RSPB)

The British Trust for Ornithology estimated in 2017 that the UK breeding population of cranes is 10 pairs. 52 cranes were identified in the UK in winter, and 37 cranes were recorded as passage migrants. The European population of cranes in summer was estimated to be 50 to 70 thousand pairs.[4]

From 2016 to 2021 there has been a significant increase in the UK population, with over a hundred chicks born in this period. 2020 was a record year, with 64 pairs, of which 56 attempted to breed, and 23 young were fledged. In the autumn of 2020 there were 78 cranes seen roosting in the Nene Washes: the highest modern-day count in Britain, since a flock of about 100 birds on migration were seen passing by in Sussex in October 1963. About half of the cranes in Britain derive from naturally arriving migrants, the other half were re-introduced (see below).[1]

The common crane's presence in Scotland in the Iron Age and Medieval periods has been confirmed by archaeological evidence but after these periods they were extremely rare. Numbers increased during the late 20th century and common cranes were confirmed to breed in North East Scotland in 2012, the breeding population increased to five pairs by 2020. The Scottish breeders prefer lowland raised bogs set in areas of mixed farmland. The Scottish birds are thought to have originated from expanding continental populations independently of the recolonisation of eastern England.[16]

In 2009, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, The RSPB and the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, with funding from Viridor Credits, began a partnership project to re-establish a breeding population of cranes at a new wetland site. A rearing facility or "crane school" was set up at WWT Slimbridge; this consists of a 1-acre (4,000 m²) marsh garden designed to rear crane chicks between 2010 and 2014 in as close to a wild environment as possible. A pre-release enclosure was also constructed on the Somerset Levels. Although the cranes are hand-reared, all humans having contact with the birds wear special grey cover-all smocks, complete with hoods, and feed the cranes using plaster cast crane heads mounted onto litter picker handles. Approximately 20 cranes are reared and released each year. The first cranes were released in 2010 with annual releases planned up until 2014. The cranes are released in Somerset, on the Somerset Levels and Moors, where the project is also working with farmers and landowners to create suitable breeding areas for the birds.[17] A pair of cranes from the project laid the first egg in 2013.[18]