A Dozen Cranes
These are Common Cranes (Grus grus) which breed across large areas of Northern Europe and Asia. They winter in warmer places like Spain, Southern Asia and parts of Africa, where I photographed these.
Cranes are a rare breeding bird in the UK with about 30 pairs, mostly in East Anglia. They started nesting in Britain in 1981 after an absence of hundreds of years. In Europe they are largely migratory but in Britain they are resident with birds from around the UK seeming to congregate in Norfolk. They breed when about four years old and typically live to about thirteen. They are large too, with a wingspan of 2.3 metres and weighing in at more than 5.5 kg. Compare this with Grey Heron with a wingspan of 1.85m and weighing a mere 1.5kg. They nest in quiet, undisturbed places and are very sensitive to disturbance. Apparently they were more common and widespread in the past but their similarity to Grey Herons makes assessment of historic reports difficult. Evidence of Cranes breeding comes from bones of half-grown Cranes found in Iron Age middens in Somerset and Orkney and place names like Cranfield, Cranbourne and Cranleigh are thought to be named after Cranes. And one final thing, the word pedigree comes via French for foot of Crane (Pied de Gru) because the symbol showing lineage (like the inner part of a peace sign but upside down) looks like a Crane's foot with equal length toes. If you don't know what I mean here's a peace sign: www.flickr.com/photos/luxfotograph/47991456742/in/photolist
A Dozen Cranes
These are Common Cranes (Grus grus) which breed across large areas of Northern Europe and Asia. They winter in warmer places like Spain, Southern Asia and parts of Africa, where I photographed these.
Cranes are a rare breeding bird in the UK with about 30 pairs, mostly in East Anglia. They started nesting in Britain in 1981 after an absence of hundreds of years. In Europe they are largely migratory but in Britain they are resident with birds from around the UK seeming to congregate in Norfolk. They breed when about four years old and typically live to about thirteen. They are large too, with a wingspan of 2.3 metres and weighing in at more than 5.5 kg. Compare this with Grey Heron with a wingspan of 1.85m and weighing a mere 1.5kg. They nest in quiet, undisturbed places and are very sensitive to disturbance. Apparently they were more common and widespread in the past but their similarity to Grey Herons makes assessment of historic reports difficult. Evidence of Cranes breeding comes from bones of half-grown Cranes found in Iron Age middens in Somerset and Orkney and place names like Cranfield, Cranbourne and Cranleigh are thought to be named after Cranes. And one final thing, the word pedigree comes via French for foot of Crane (Pied de Gru) because the symbol showing lineage (like the inner part of a peace sign but upside down) looks like a Crane's foot with equal length toes. If you don't know what I mean here's a peace sign: www.flickr.com/photos/luxfotograph/47991456742/in/photolist