Damon Bridge's blog

Spent a while this morning in the tractor, preparing the ground in readiness for contractors to start work creating a potential crane breeding zone at the heart of the West Sedgemoor RSPB reserve.

 The topper

Had a fabulous day yesterday with a lovely bunch of volunteers and RSPB staff getting the 'top-nets' onto the crane aviary on the Somerset Levels and Moors. 

Firstly a tangled mess of net - that had been stored out on site, within a tarpaulin, but under 1m of water at the height of the winter flood.  It had also, rather unpleasantly had been used by Mink as a latrine and a store of half-eaten duck eggs and bits of dead coot and mallard. 

I have just returned from a wonderful week in the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve, Brandenburg, Germany  - helping the team there to catch and ring wild crane chicks. 

Eberhard and myself with a young crane            Cornflowers in the Rye crops

 Monty with his chick. Photo - Graham Hann.

 Monty with his chick - late May.

Monty and Chris, the pair of released cranes that have successfully nested at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire this year are currently very busy rearing a feisty young crane that will soon be 20 days old!  The young bird is one of two that hatched from Monty and Chris's clutch on 17th May.  Sadly, its sibling was taken by a fox at around 1 week old.

  Monty foraging with one of his chicks! 19/05/14

Over the weekend Monty & Chris, the pair of 2010 release year cranes that had been incubating on the WWT Slimbridge reserve not far from the Martin Smith Hide hatched a couple of chicks - and this is one of them  - the first photographed wild crane chick in the West Country in over 400 years! 

The cranes have been VERY busy over the last couple of weeks.

 Tamsin on Timmy - Early March 2014

We have seen some of last year's pairings continuing to flourish, some couples spiltting, some rather 'modern' trios of birds forming, a number of new romances blossoming as well as a good number of fleeting dalliancies. 

We are sorry to report that one of this year's released birds, Sven, was reported by the daily monitoring team this Saturday on his own, with his wing hanging limply by his side.  He was caught and taken to be examined by the RSPCA at West Hatch.  Sadly, his injury was so severe that the only humane option was euthanasia, and he was put down.  We are not sure exactly what caused the injury, but it is quite possible that it was a bite from a fox in the night, or other predator.  He was a very healthy weight and apart from the broken wing, seemed in good shape.