Common crane chick hatches at WWT Washington

A common crane chick has hatched at Wearside’s WWT Washington Wetland Centre, a first for three years!

The youngster hatched on Wednesday 21 May – a week before the wetland centre celebrated it’s 50th birthday – under the watchful eyes of its protective parents.

This is just the second chick to hatch at WWT Washington to the adult pair, who have been part of the centre’s animal collection since 2008, coming to the Northeast after originally hatching in the Netherlands. They were moved to WWT’s headquarters in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire soon after, before moving to WWT Washington in the early stages of the pioneering Great Crane Project, which has now seen the common crane successfully reintroduced to the UK to record levels.

The exciting news of their second ever chick follows months of flirting, nest building and prospecting towards the back of the centre’s stream channel exhibit, where they finally laid and incubated the egg.

WWT Washington’s Collection Team Manager, Dan Morrison said: “As an amber-listed species in the UK, we’re chuffed with the arrival of the young crane chick. The adults have been here since they were just one year old, so seventeen years later, it’s great to know that they’re still happy and healthy here.”

In the wild, common cranes form monogamous pairs for life, breeding from around four to five years old. The pair at WWT Washington are now eighteen years old, breeding only for the very first time in 2022, when they successfully hatched a young female.

After over a year with her parents and some time spent behind-the-scenes, she went on to Watatunga Wildlife Reserve in Norfolk, where she was named ‘Lola’ and paired with her own mate ‘Hattie’.

Dan added: “It’s great knowing that our cranes have produced healthy youngsters that will go on to thrive in other parts of the UK.

“Here at WWT Washington, our crane family is doing fantastically well and the parents have been doing everything right, including keeping us keepers at bay during feed times!

“We’re quietly confident that everything will continue to go smoothly for this special bird species and hopefully we’ll be able to get them out on show soon for visitors to see.”

The young family is currently off-show allowing them time to bond in a quiet and protected environment, where the team can closely monitor their health and behaviour. The team at WWT Washington will keep people informed on social media about the chick and any updates about how to see it.

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