The Great Crane Project – common crane re-introduction in South-West England

Summary

The common crane (Grus grus), extinct in the UK by 1600 and only naturally recolonizing eastern England from the 1980s to reach 44 birds by 2010, was targeted for a South West England reintroduction after a 2007 feasibility study narrowed 11 candidate sites to the Somerset Levels & Moors, a 64,000-hectare peat floodplain. The RSPB, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and Pensthorpe Conservation Trust secured a five-year agreement to import up to 30 eggs annually from Germany's Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve, collecting 121 eggs between 2010 and 2014 for costume-rearing at WWT Slimbridge, using puppet-rearing techniques adapted from the US whooping crane program; chicks were later moved to a netted pre-release aviary for soft release into the wider landscape, with supplementary feeding through their first autumn and winter. In total, 93 cranes were released from 2010 to 2014, with 74 confirmed alive by November 2015, an 80% survival rate well above the 60% target; breeding attempts failed in 2013 and 2014 before nine pairs bred successfully in 2015, fledging four chicks. Habitat creation work enhanced or established breeding zones at nine wetland sites, and community engagement included volunteer involvement, school programs, and a stakeholder crane forum, following consultation that found 95% local support. Major obstacles included securing regulatory consent, hitting annual release targets from a capped egg supply, and achieving successful breeding. The project reports strong progress, citing survival well above target and a milestone first breeding season, while noting its 20-pairs-by-2025 goal cannot yet be assessed.