Bart

Profile Picture and Leg Ring Combination Code

Red
Blue
Red

What is this?

Each crane has a unique combination of 3 coloured rings on their right leg. This marking code helps to identify the crane in the wild.

Sex: Male
Date of Hatching (birthday): 25 April, 2010
Date of Release: 24 August, 2010
Tracking Tag: Satellite tracking
Status: All breeding attempts 2014-2018 with Ruby. 2014: one unsuccessful nest of 2 eggs (1 addled, 1 dead). 2015: first nest abandoned, second nest 1 addled, 1 infertile egg. 2016: two failed breeding attempts. 2017: first nest abandoned, second nest two eggs hatched but both chicks died (one killed by the other). 2018: Successfully hatched, reared and fledged 2 chicks. Died in October 2018.
Life Status: Deceased
Champion Status: Championed

Character profile:

Summer 2010: Bart is quite a high ranking male with a very inquisitive and occasionally aggressive nature – he’s also quite destructive. He is nick-named Bart as his pre-ringing leg tags at crane school are yellow, and he seemed to be always causing trouble! Also have a look at the May 8th photo...he really does seem to resemble Bart Simpson. He is the brother of Yellow Black Red. September 2010: Often found in a group with Clarence's cohort, and starting to become one of Clarence's close-knit gang. Bart has a leg-mounted satellite transmitter and is one of the birds we can monitor remotely, with information being sent every third day to a satellite and beamed back down to a computer. October 2010: Bart is still feisty but with him now required to forage and find food there is less time to be so bolshie with the other members of the group - especially as they now need to work together in the big bad world. November 2010: In recent weeks the cranes have all joined forces with Clarence’s group and are now usually moving as a group of 20. Bart is usually in the middle of the group and is friendly towards any bird nearby! They have found new fields to explore and are often found foraging on maize stubbles. January 2011: Bart has been one of the flock during the coldest December on record and has been keeping his head down and getting on with it – a good strategy. March 2011: Bart is very much part of the crowd and is in the same state of development as the other birds. As with Gemma, he has become quite a dancer become very adept at throwing around bits of rotting vegetation. April 2011: Bart took a flight out to Catcott and Shapwick in late April, along with Clarence, Gemma and Chris, and as part of this group has travelled further than most of the other birds. September 2011: Bart is still sticking with the original 18, but is slowly coming to accept that the new 2011 birds are there to stay. He has nearly all of his adult plumage and is definitely a very attractive bird. June 2012: During March Bart appeared to strike up a close bond with Gemma, and both birds were seen flying around together in what you could call a 'pair'. However, no mating or courtship behaviour was observed, and this may just be a couple of birds hanging around together. In early June Bart was part of a group of 11 birds (including Gemma) which flew up to Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, but he (and Gemma) returned the following day. April 2013 Bart, along with Gemma, Wendy and Cosmo flew up to Slimbridge in early April and after Cosmo left, Bart started building a rudimentary nest with both Wendy and Gemma. It's hard to say who is chosen partner is, but we would put money on it being Gemma. May 2013: Glad we didn't make a bet, because Gemma was ousted, and Wendy remained with Bart into May. The pair were observed mating in early May at the Slimbridge site, but a breeding attempt was not made. August 2013: Bart went into moult in the grounds of WWT Slimbridge along with Ruby and was worryingly not seen for a couple of weeks. However - he turned up again in August and then flew back to Somerset in the company of Sedge and Ruby. January 2014: Bart didn't remain in Somerset for long though and was soon back at Slimbridge, where he appears to be quite settled. It looks like he is pairing up with Ruby - although there are two other un-paired females - Sedge and Wendy around... so who knows! July 2014: Bart spent the winter of 2013/14 at Slimbridge, usually partnered with Ruby and in early March it was clear that they were a well defined pair of birds. In mid April they made a nest and began incubation at WWT Slimbridge. Incubation continued well into Mid May and it became clear that the eggs were not going to hatch. The nest was visited and the eggs checked to find that one was addled, and one was dead in the shell. Bart and Ruby soon abandoned their breeding attempt but remain together at Slimbridge in July 2014. July 2015: Bart remained at WWT Slimbridge through the winter of 2014/15 along with Ruby, and the pair made a nest and began incubation on 8th May 2015. However, this nesting attempt was short-lived and the pair had abandoned or lost their clutch after a few days. The pair re-laid in early June and incubated for a month. This nest was then visited by staff as it became clear that it wasn’t going to hatch. The nest was found to contain one infertile, addled egg. February 2016: Bart remained at Slimbridge all winter. It will be interesting to see if he makes a nesting attempt for a third year with Ruby - or if he tries with a new mate. July 2016: Remained at Slimbridge through the winter and Spring. Began incubation 29th April on a former Oystercatcher nest on the Southlake area, but abandoned the nest after 4 days. A second attempt was made in the same area but that too failed. Nov 2017: Remained at Slimbridge with Ruby through the winter and spring. Began incubation 29th April on Southlake at WWT Slimbridge, but by May 1st the nest and egg had been abandoned. A second attempt with two eggs was confirmed on 16th May and hatch occurred on 13th June. On 27th June one of the chicks was witnessed killing the other. This 2nd chick also died in mid July – cause unknown. Sept 2018 : Remained at Slimbridge through the winter and Spring. Photographed displaying to each other in Late February. Nested built on Southlake Duck Marsh around 25th April Hatch took place on 26th May – 2 chicks. Both juveniles were fledged by late August and provided quite a show for visitors to WWT Slimbridge. Sept 2019: Bart unfortunately died on October 29th 2018 - cause unknown.