Albert

Profile Picture and Leg Ring Combination Code

• White
• Blue
• White

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.

Character profile:

May 2011: Albert is a very pretty/handsome crane with oddly coloured white toe-nails! He hatched from one of the smallest eggs of the 2011 batch, amongst the April 25/26 rush of five hatchlings.  His sibling is Pepper.  He is the dominant crane in the 'B block' cohort but now that this group has been introduced to the big gang from A block, he is very wary - particularly of Lofty, (the oldest) with which he had a bit of a scrap...and lost.  He is now trying to find his place in the pecking order.  August 2011: Albert likes to hang around with Wally and Lofty at the moment but is friendly to all the others and hardly ever gets into fights! He never stands still and is always busy, especially catching insects. He also loves flying and will often be seen developing his flight muscles ready for release! October 2011: Albert the prince is a fine and well integrated member of the flock of 34 cranes that are regularly being seen out and about foraging on craneflies and in barley stubbles and on specially provided unharvested crop areas. September 2012: Albert has adapted well to life with the Somerset flock and he and his cohort are all behaving as naturally as any wild cranes.  They have spent the summer feeding on the un-seasonally flooded grasslands of the Moors and Levels in small fragmented groups, but as autumn rolls in they are starting to flock again and follow the harvest, hoovering up any spilt and wasted grain in the fields. January 2014: 2013 was largely uneventful for Albert, spending the spring and summer on Aller Moor and West Sedgemoor and the winter as part of a tight-knit flock on Stanmoor, near Stoke-St.Gregory. We hope that Albert will pair up this year, although at 3 years old he is still very young to make a breeding attempt.  July 2015: Albert didn’t pair up in the spring of 2014, and then remained on the Levels and Moors through the summer where he is believed to have moulted as he was seen running about like a crazy-thing in July 2014.  He remained on the Somerset Levels and Moors autumn and winter of 2014/15.  In spring 2015 he still didn’t appear to pair up with any particular bird, but turned up at WWT Slimbridge in early April along with Buttercup (a 2013 female) but he doesn’t appear to be paired up with her.  February 2016: Albert returned to Somerset in the summer of 2015 and remained with the main non-breeding flock until November  - when he turned up again back at WWT Slimbridge. He remains there  now. Perhaps he will pair up with Buttercup as the Spring rolls on.   July 16: Remained at Slimbridge and was seen with Buttercup during February . In late March he was observed paired with Wendy and they started nesting activity in April on Bull Ground. Incubation started towards the end of April but after a few days the nest was abandoned. There were no subsequent attempts.   Nov 17:  Albert paired with Wendy  at Slimbridge in late February and  Wendy was seen on a nest  on 20^th March.  Albert was also observed tending the nest at other times.  However, the nest was abandoned on or around 31^st March for reasons unknown.  No further attempts at nesting were witnessed.  Both birds remained at Slimbridge.  Sept 18:  Remained at WWT Slimbridge and paired with Wendy. Incubation on the first nest started from 21/3.  One chick was hatched on 23^rd April but was lost by  22^nd May. Reported to be incubating again before 9the June but the nest failed.  The pair were back with the WWT Slimbridge  flock in late August.  Sept 2019:  Remained at WWT Slimbridge, paired with Wendy. The first incubation started in late March but failed after two weeks.  The second incubation started on 17^th May and two chicks were hatched on 17^th June but by the 16^th July both were lost – presumed depredated.  Albert and his mate Wendy were observed at Slimbridge throughout the summer up to September.    2020: Albert remained at Slimbridge for the winter and made one nesting attempt with Wendy which failed early.  Failure is thought to be due to increasingly low water levels which may have led to predation or abandonment of the nest.   He has been observed at Slimbridge in the Autumn.    Sept 2021:   At WWT Slimbridge Albert and Wendy were observed incubating 2 eggs on 7th April and hatched 2 chicks on 9th May.  Both chicks were lost in early June.  No further breeding attempts were observed and the pair remained at Slimbridge for the summer and in September.  Autumn 2022:  Albert and Wendy remained at WWT Slimbridge over the winter.  The pair were observed incubating on 24th March and hatched 1 chick on 25th April.  The juvenile successfully fledged on 11th July.   The family remain at Slimbridge with a small flock of cranes.

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Photos of Albert

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