Crane

As everyone in our house was feeling a tad fragile after the celebrations of last night I dosed myself up and took off in the sunshine to Slimbridge where it had been tweeted that four cranes had flown in onto the marshes.

Monty, Sedge, Ruby and Beatrice were originally bred here and then released in Somerset about 70 miles away back in 2010 as part of the Great Crane Project. This is the first time any of the released cranes have returned and wow did they look amazing. I was tapped on the shoulder by a gentleman who said that if I wanted some good photographs today then the cranes had just flown onto the lake by the Rushy Hide. Brilliant - off I scooted.

They started off way in the distance but over time came in reasonably close. A slight hassle occured when they were dive bombed by an angry gull but it soon cleared off! They walked over the water in an almost comical manner lifting each leg up and out before the next step forward and were just fabulous to see.

I have never seen a crane before other than in an aviary and it was a rare treat! I also hadn't realised that they weren't on the list for the BlipBig Year so double bonus!