Damon Bridge's blog

Reward increased to £2,000

Published on October 19, 2016, by Damon Bridge

A private, anonymous reward of £1,000 has been offered, ontop of the £1,000 offered by RSPB, for any information that leads to a conviction for the shooting of the crane, known as Swampy at the end of September this year. Anybody with information should contact the Avon and Somerset Police quoting crime reference number 5216228321

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Swampy - Shot Dead

Published on October 18, 2016, by Damon Bridge

I have some very sad news to report. The body of Swampy, a female crane, released through the Great Crane Project in 2011, was found by a local farmer in a maize field in late September. The body was handed into the project team, and it was sent, as with any recovered dead crane, for a full post-mortem. The post mortem found four embedded metallic objects by CT scan, one of which was located through examination and has been identified as gun-shot. The conclusion is that the most likely cause of death was shooting. The details hav

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First, catch your crane...

Published on September 3, 2016, by Damon Bridge

On a quiet, still morning a week ago, four conservationists hid, crouched in the grasses and obscured by hawthorn hedges as the morning mist formed in the first light of dawn. After a wait of around an hour, a pair of cranes and their eight week old chick crept steadily from their night-time roost, stealthily and nervously walking out of the thick cover of reeds onto a short drove road. From here they walked much more quickly out into an open field, recently grazed, gleaning early-morning insect morsels from the rush tops.

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The Wilderness - Place of Wild Beasts

Published on May 17, 2016, by Damon Bridge

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Life on a Knife's Edge

Published on May 6, 2016, by Damon Bridge

The last couple of Months have been a very busy time indeed for the cranes.

Photo - John Crispin

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Finding their feet

Published on March 15, 2016, by Damon Bridge

Wonderful photos here from local photographer Robin Morrison of Swampy & Alexander's two chicks from 2015 taken at the tail end of February on the Somerset Levels and Moors.

With Waterwing - a 2013 female behind...

The youngsters have been looked after all winter by their parents who have now headed off back to their breeding area, leaving the chicks with some of the younger, unpaired birds from the release project.

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