After the success of the past three years, Crane School has now gone backstage.
A brand new hatching and rearing facility has been built behind the scenes here at Slimbridge and right now 20 young crane chicks are being hand reared by our expert costumed crane 'parents', teaching them all the skills they need to survive in the wild.
Visitors to Slimbridge can see adult cranes - graduates of previous years' Crane Schools - at Back from the Brink. Hear about the project to reintroduce these magnificent birds into the wild and get the very latest news of how our young cranes are progressing in Crane School 2010. Visit the blog to see how they are getting on, or browse our gallery to see the chicks' very own photo albums. For more details on The Great Crane Project click here.
Background
Once upon a time common cranes were a familiar sight in the UK. These large elegant birds with powerful calls and energetic dancing displays used to be abundant in our wetlands. But overhunting and draining of wetlands caused their extinction 400 years ago. Now they could once again be a common feature across Britain thanks to an exciting project to reintroduce the birds into the wild.
The Great Crane Project (GCP) is a partnership between the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), RSPB and Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, with major funding from Viridor Credits Environmental Company.
You may have seen or heard about our successful Crane School at WWT Slimbridge, which we have run for the last three years. By dressing up as large adult cranes to disguise our human forms we can teach the cranes essential life lessons such as how to forage for food, defend themselves from predators.
This year Crane School 2010 is going backstage at WWT Slimbridge. We will be using techniques we’ve developed over the last few years of crane school to raise chicks from eggs collected from the wild.
Over the next few months 20 + young cranes will be raised by our crane team at a special rearing facility here at Slimbridge. They will be released later this year on the Somerset Moors and Levels. As it is so vital that the cranes don’t knowingly come into contact with humans, only a few specialised staff members will have access to the cranes this year and they will be reared at a specially built rearing facility away - Crane School 2010 - away from the visitor area. The team dealing with the cranes will also wear crane costumes during all interactions so that the birds never see their true human forms.
Although Crane School is going backstage this year you won’t miss any of the action.
If you visit WWT Slimbridge you can see special demonstration talks with last year’s class of cranes.
We also will have videos in the cinema explaining crane school 2010 and the Great Crane Project.
You can also follow our progress with the cranes by regularly visiting this website to read the latest blogs on crane school 2010.
To visit the Great Crane Project website click here