Class of 2014s first new arrival
This little fellow arrived in the country last night as an egg and woke up this morning as the Great Crane Project’s first chick of 2014.
14 eggs arrived last night – with more to follow. We’re bringing the Eurasian crane home after it disappeared from Britain 400 years ago. So we’re collecting eggs from wild nests in Germany, hatching and rearing the chicks at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre's "crane school" and reintroducing them on the fantastic wetlands of the Somerset Levels and Moors.
Look out for news of how our released birds from previous years are doing. Two of them, Chris and Monty, have flown back up the Severn to Slimbridge and are incubating their own egg (or two, we’re not sure!) on a nest in front of one of the hides.
That's pretty exciting because, if successful, Chris and Monty could rear the first wild-hatched chick in the west of Britain for 400 years, which would get all the attention.
Meanwhile this little guy is preferring a heat lamp to limelight as he enjoys his first day leading the crane class of 2014. When he's ready we'll release him into the wild where hopefully he'll follow in Chris and Monty's footsteps and look to start a family of his own.
The Great Crane Project is a partnership between WWT, RSPB and Pennsthorpe Conservation Trust with major funding from Viridor Credits Environmental Company.
