Rare crane egg given 24-hour guard [View all]

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/20/rare-crane-egg-24-hour-guard


Common cranes at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Slimbridge Wetland Centre. Photograph: James Lees/WWT/PA

The first common crane egg laid in western Britain for more than 400 years has been given a round-the-clock guard, conservationists said.

The nesting pair that produced the egg are part of the Great Crane Project, which has been rearing cranes in captivity since 2010 and reintroducing them to the Somerset Levels and Moors where they would have been found centuries ago.

The egg laid at a nest at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's (WWT) Slimbridge Wetland Centre is the first known to be laid by the project's cranes, which were hand-reared at the centre and the oldest of which only reached maturity this year.

Once widespread in Britain, the species was driven to extinction as a breeding bird by hunting and habitat loss by 1600, although a small population has been established in the Norfolk Broads since 1979.