Monty’s Birthday Bath

A CRANE AT SLIMBRIDGE

1st May 2013

I have been itching to get to Slimbridge since I learned that a pair of the cranes released by the Great Crane Project had returned to Slimbridge and built a nest on Tack Piece, right in front of the Martin Smith Hide. I finally had my chance on May Day.

When I reached the hide, a little before 11am, it became clear that the birds had not gone through with their attempt. This was hardly surprising because they are still very young. I caught a glimpse of the pair in the far corner of the field, but by the time I reached the Holden Tower, the birds had flown.

I had seen a group of 5 cranes in the distance on my previous visit to Slimbridge in February, so I was disappointed not to get a better view. Anyway I had a walk around the grounds, without taking any photos until I returned to Tack Piece and managed to get some shots of little egrets and jackdaws (which will appear here soon, of course).

I decided to make a final visit to the Martin Smith Hide just before 2pm. Shortly after I sat down, a WWT volunteer entered the hide and pointed out that one of the cranes was close to the boundary fence (I admit I hadn’t spotted it, Tack Piece is a large field). He said he was going to give a talk about the cranes outside the hide in a few minutes. Luckily I was sitting close to the door, so I could hear his talk but also keep my eyes on the crane which was coming closer.

Actually I already knew quite a bit about the Great Crane Project, which is trying to reintroduce cranes to south west England. They have imported 20 crane eggs from Germany each year since 2010. The chicks are reared at Slimbridge, using techniques developed at the International Crane Foundation at Barraboo, Wisconsin to help them to survive in the wild. Then they are released in the Somerset Levels. A few of the older birds have returned to Slimbridge for visits in the past year, although it is at least 40 miles north of their intended home.

I knew that the cranes which tried to nest were Monty and Chris, who were in the group I saw previously. As the crane approached the hide, I thought it looked tall enough to be a male, so I guessed it might be Monty. I was amazed that it came straight back to the nest, now occupied by a broody coot, so I took care to get some shots showing the colour rings on its legs.

A quick visit to the GCP website (http://www.thegreatcraneproject.org.uk/) in the evening confirmed that this bird is Monty. I also learned that he had hatched on 1st May 2010, so it was his third birthday! He celebrated by having a nice bath in front of the hide, so I had an amazing opportunity for photographs – luckily my 500mm and TC1.4 combination was long enough for decent framing – these cranes are wild birds that have been trained to avoid humans, if Monty had come any closer to the hide he would probably have been scared off.

When the volunteer finished talking, I felt that I ought to spread the word, so I stuck my head out of the door and said ‘one of the cranes is having a bath straight in front of the hide’ and the other visitors were able to see Monty for themselves.

I see from the GCP website that the first batch of 2013 eggs arrived at Slimbridge on May Day. They plan to bring in more eggs next year, and it is hoped that Monty and Chris and their contemporaries will nest successfully by 2015.

NEWS  20th May

WWT have announced that Monty and Chris are incubating at least one egg in a new nest in the Rushy Pen, just over the fence fromTack Piece.

UPDATE 4th June 

WWT announced yesterday that a crane chick hatched successfully, but disappeared within a couple of days. It either fell victim to a predator or to a spell of bad weather. Disappointing news, but hardly unexpected for such young parents.