(Un)common Crane chicks

I'm still pretty tired after a busy few days at work, straight off the back of my short birding trip to Southern Spain last week. So, I was half-tempted to have a bit of a rest on my day off today.

However, a beautiful sunny morning, combined with the lure of the newly-hatched wild Common Crane chicks at WWT Slimbridge proved irresistible. After all, with what are probably the first wild-born Crane chicks to survive in Southern Britain in the last 400 years on my doorstep, it would be positively rude not to pay them a visit!

We'd been to see the pair on the nest a couple of weeks ago, so it was a real delight to see them now with their two babies. 

Chris(tine) coming back after a 20 minute break!!

Over the course of the day, the family spent much of their time in the shelter of the reed beds, however I did get some great clear views of the chicks as their parents led them around the fringes of the back of the pool. 

The adults - Monty & Chris(tine) - are amazingly attentive parents, constantly feeding their chicks. Mind you, considering that these fluffy little things will be almost the same size as their parents in only 6-8 weeks, you can see why a steady stream of food is needed! The adults are also very protective of their chicks, chasing off any other birds that ventured too close by. They seemed to have a particular hatred of Jackdaws, which they drove off very aggressively, yet strangely they didn't seem that bothered by Rooks, which I'd have thought might be more of a threat. They also saw off some menacing Lesser Black-backed Gulls, which were showing rather an unhealthy interest.

There were also lots of other waterfowl & waders raising families around the same pool, including Lapwings, Shell Ducks, Grey Heron and a pair of Mute Swans nesting just in front of the hide. It was also nice to see the water vole pass by on a couple of occasions.

Grey Heron

Lapwing

Mute Swan on the nest

I really hope that this brood of Crane chick marks the start of a sustainable recovery of a wild population of this beautiful species in the UK. I'll be following their progress with great interest over the coming weeks.

Back from the brink?

Despite a very busy day at work, the beautiful sunny evening yesterday tempted me out for a quick scoot round some of the back roads to see what was around. The hedgerows are all in full bloom, lots of bluebells & wild garlic flowering in copses, and plenty of bird-life zipping around. We took a bit of a different route (well, OK - we got mildly lost!) and ended up in the lanes around Lambourne, where we came across a herd of around 25 Fallow Deer, including several bucks who are just re-growing their antlers. They are still shedding out their shaggy winter coats, so are looking a bit scruffy at present, but always nice to see - especially a couple of melanistic youngsters. We also got some nice eye-level views of a trio of Red-Legged Partridges, foraging on a small village green. 

Fallow Deer

Red-legged Partridge

As usual in this area, plenty of Buzzards, Red Kites and Kestrels to be seen on the way. We made our way home via Aldbourne to see if we could pick up a hare or two. We did get some cracking views, but they were wide awake & very active, so zipped off at high-speed. We also found a small group of the local Fallows, browsing along the edge of a copse - including one of the leucistic individuals. We were also privileged  to get a glimpse of a Tawney Owl hunting in the twilight. It glided back into a copse with it's prey; presumably to chicks? Lou also spotted a Stoat dashing into the undergrowth.

Today, we decided to put the WWT membership to good use & popped over to Slimbridge for a pleasant few hours; mainly as Lou was keen to see some of the wild Common Cranes which have been hanging around the reserve lately. They're one of her rather long list of favourite birds! We'd heard that there was even a pair nesting on the site, but weren't expecting to get more than a distant view through the bins. How wrong we were!

Common Crane

We were surprised and delighted to find that one pair have decided to nest directly in front of one of the hides, so we were able to get some great views of the female sticking her head out of the reeds, as she waited not-so-patiently for her mate to relieve her. We were lucky enough to witness a changeover between the pair, wit the male flying in & cautiously wading across the marsh to the nest. His mate seemed very pleased to get a chance to stretch her wings ; not really surprising - the volunteer observer on duty said she'd been on the eggs for the last 7 hours! They are such graceful birds, it's wonderful to see them getting a toehold back after centuries of persecution and habitat loss. It would be wonderful if they succeed in raising a chick this year; it would be the first known in England for about 400 years!

Crane Pair - at the nest

Crane - on the nest

An added bonus, on the same pool, was a beautiful Spoonbill, in full breeding plumage. We see these birds a lot on our trips to Spain, but this was our closest view of one in England. Also present were a Mute Swan, Mallards, Shellducks, Canada Geese and Greylag Geese. I also saw a watervole swimming across the channel,

Spoonbill

Spoonbill - displaying

There were lots of young waterbirds appearing already all over the reserve - particularly Coots & Moorhens. We saw several real hatchlings, plus some surprisingly well-grown juveniles - all very cute! We also got a good (though not very close) view of the male of one of Slimbridge's pairs of Kingfishers, taking fish into the nest hole for his mate. From the same hide, we also enjoyed watching the antics of a pair of Reed Warblers, and Lou had a great view of a Reed Bunting; shame she didn't bother pointing it out to me! 

Coots - Adult & Chick

Distant Kingfisher

Polchard

Later this afternoon, we decided to check out a new site for us; a local beech & hazel copse, which seemed promising. We saw a lot of Bank Voles, presumably foraging for hazel nuts, so I've got a few ideas for working with these in the coming weeks. Another highlight was a large - and rather noisy - rookery, obviously with lots of young chicks, to judge from the noise!