Cranes in the UK

Cranes are thought to have gone extinct as a breeding bird in the UK around 400 years ago.

Wintering birds would have occasionally turned up in the intervening period – as they still currently do from time to time.  These are birds that veer off from their usual migration routes across Europe – often as a result of inclement weather.
In 1979, three of these migrant birds spent the winter in the Norfolk Broads in the east of the UK.

These three pioneering cranes liked what they found and stayed put, and the population slowly but steadily grew through immigration of more young birds and more recently through breeding and the production of young to add to the population.

Initially the presence of the birds in Norfolk was a closely guarded secret, as their tenuous hold in the UK was foremost in the minds of those seeking to protect them.   

The UK population is still centred in Norfolk, but birds have now also bred in Suffolk and on Humberside with the current population around 50 resident birds.  

Unlike all other cranes on the continent, the UK birds are resident and do not migrate away from the UK for the winter.

The Great Crane Project will be introducing a further 100 resident birds between 2010 and 2015 and help to secure the future of the species in the UK.