Christmas Shoes finds a friend!

Christmas-shoes the crane - who is more used to making friends with wooden cut outs (see above!) seems to now be part of a little gang.   Over the last few weeks the unringed and un-named 'stranger' who joined the flock in mid November has been steadily assimilated into the wintering group of 33.  Initially this bird  was frequently bullied and pecked at in typical crane fashion - but over the last few days it has been seen in the company of the same little group of juvenille (2011 release year) cranes.   These include Pepper, Charlie, Beatrice and Christmas Shoes!   We are really pleased about this as it means that Christmas shoes  - who has been a bit of a loner -  now has a tight little bunch of mates to hang around with.    We don't have any photos of this little grouping I'm afraid but the whole flock can often be seen a few hundred metres away continuing to enjoy the wonderfully mild weather in the pastures on Aller Moor, pulling up worms and other tasty treats.   

About the author

Damon’s role is to act as the hub of the project - making sure everyone involved knows what is going on and that it is all running smoothly. He is also responsible for project community awareness work in Somerset, construction of the release enclosure, and running the post release monitoring work in Somerset.  Damon works alongside the RSPB reserve teams in Somerset.