Wendy, Minnie, Twinkle, Elle, Mennis and Lofty in the Rushy Pen, 29th October 2013. Not in the photo, but nearby, were Gemma and an unringed bird, either from East Anglia or from Europe.
I was reading the website about these the other day- they seem to be doing very well with something like an 80%(+) survival rate of the reared chicks, where they were prepared for a 60% rate as being good/sufficient. I believe next year is the last for the importation of more eggs from Germany and that they have a target population of 100 birds, which they are very much on course to achieve.
And of course this population is being already helped by occassional movements between the small breeding group in East Anglia and from further afield possibly. It seems to have more indications of potential success than the similar but rather struggling Great Bustards on Salisbury Plain.
Yes, I think that the current situation can be summed up as 'so far, so good'.
The breeding attempt this year was a bonus. It is quite possible that things will go better next year, but the real test will be 2015 when the oldest birds will be 5 years old and fully mature.
The colour rings are interesting. All the birds have black, blue and black on their left legs - which indicates that they were hatched in the UK. The lowest ring on the right leg indicates the hatch year (2010 red, 2011 white, 2012 blue and 2013 yellow). The other 2 rings are individual for each bird, there is a key on the GCP website with details of all the cranes (which is how I could name the birds in the photo).
I haven't heard how the bustards have fared for a few years. The Rare Birds' Breeding Panel report for 2010 stated that " four chicks hatched from four nests" at one site. I agree that the Crane project seems to be faring better. I saw my first wild bird earlier this year, flying over Northampton, and was wildly excited!
I haven't heard how the bustards have fared for a few years. The Rare Birds' Breeding Panel report for 2010 stated that " four chicks hatched from four nests" at one site.
Bustards-From what I can deduce, although nowhere is it stated precisely, there seem to be only about eleven adult birds surviving from previous years' releases, plus the current year's batch of youngsters. I think chicks have hatched in more than one nest at least two years(2010 & 11) but DNS beyond a few weeks. 2012 was probably a washout? Two of the older females (probably) made nesting attempts this year also but again without success. Afaik no chicks have been reared to maturity or at least, that are still living.
Another problem seems to be that being from (Russian)Migratory stock, they wander widely, even down to France, and don't always return. (I believe birds of the non-migratory Spanish race may now be considered but that would involve mixing of two races.) Several birds also appear to have been injured in the release pens and moved to the safety of the Weyhill Hawk Centre/Trust and Farnham BirdWorld which now also has some. This project has recently had a lot of money injected into it but IMO there still seems a long way to go to reach a successful outcome.
