Common Crane Grus grus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Very rare, introduced resident & passage migrant.
- Two, adults, 22nd March 2012 (N.R. Milbourne).
- Two, not aged, 7th Aug. 2015 (G.Stacey).* See note 1.
- Four, not aged, 24th Oct. 2022 (M. Kerly).
Note 1. I don’t know if this record was submitted for consideration by the AOG records committee. My understanding was that two Common Cranes were seen flying north over the lake at approx. 1400 hrs.
I recall a message coming up on Rare Bird Alert during the 1990s, I think, of a Common Crane flying south over Blagdon Lake when I was working in Birmingham. Later a Common Crane was reported in Devon, which may have been the same bird and giving the Blagdon sighting some credence. However, as far as I know, no record was submitted to the AOG rarities committee, and I have no way of knowing who reported the sighting. It’s a shame as it may have been a first for the lake.
I watched two adults fly low away from the Peg’s Point area of the lake in 2012. They flew north up the hill and then started to circle and gain height while I watched them in my telescope. When they’d got high enough, they started to glide away north-east along the Breach Hill ridge. They were unringed as far as I was concerned, and within a couple of days two birds were reported in Oxfordshire. I have seen ringed birds from the scheme and the rings are pretty obvious, even on low flying birds, I looked for rings and saw none. The AOG rarities committee initially decided this record was of birds from the re-introduction scheme in Somerset, but have subsequently accepted these were probably wild birds. The Great Crane Project, a collaboration between the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), the RSPB and the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust released 93 Common Cranes between 2010 and 2014 in Somerset. The project has been something of a success, with small breeding groups becoming established both in Somerset and at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, and other birds wandering further afield, some of which have also bred. The problem the local rarities committee have, since the re-introduction, is separating birds of wild origin on migration and re-introduced birds and their offspring making local movements.
The 2022 record of four birds seen by Martin Kerly may have been of wild origin, or, from the re-introduction scheme.
Bibliography (sources of information):
- Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2012. Avon Ornithological Group.
- Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2022. Avon Ornithological Group.
Last update: 28th March 2025