Pippa

Profile Picture and Leg Ring Combination Code

Green
Red
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.

Sex: Female
Date of Hatching (birthday): 9 May, 2011
Date of Release: 22 August, 2011
Tracking Tag: Radio tracking
Status: Paired with Cosmo (2010 male). 2015: 1st nesting attempt failed - stage of loss unknown. 2016: Made one nesting attempt which failed. 2017: No longer paired with Cosmo and no known nesting attempts recorded. 2018: No evidence of breeding until observed in October with a juvenile. 2019: One nesting attempt – failed at chick stage. 2020: One breeding attempt, failed at egg stage. 2021: One successful breeding attempt with 1 chick fledged. 2022: One unsuccessful breeding attempt.
Life Status: Alive
Champion Status: Championed
Paired with: Wiz

Character profile:

May 2011: Pippa was the last egg of the last batch to hatch, and is a whole 18 days younger than Lofty and Wally. She is currently quite a timid chick, and spent quite a few days afraid to leave her coop. June 2011: Pippa is still timid, but does now leave her coop and is slowly overcoming her fear of the big bad world! A rush of wind through the grasses though, and she dives back to the safety of her coop. July 2011: Pippa is now really coming out of herself and gaining in confidence daily. August 2011: Pippa is much more confident and interacts with the other birds a lot more than she used to. However, as soon as the costumed avics appear in costume she becomes very clingy and often stands looking for them when we are not there. Hopefully by next month she will have bonded with the group even more and lost her dependence on the avics a little so she is less panicky when the birds are released. October 2011: The baby of the group is now very much part of the large flock of last year's and this year’s birds that have been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather gorging themselves on crane flies across the moors. September 2012: Pippa has adapted well to life with the Somerset flock and she and her 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. January 2014: 2013 was quite uneventful for Pippa, spending the spring and summer on Aller moor and West Sedgemoor, the autumn feeding in and around the Stoke St. Gregory Ridge and Stanmoor and the winter flood period on Stanmoor pastures, pulling up worms as part of a large flock. July 2015: During the spring of 2014 Pippa paired up with Cosmo, a 2010 male, and the pair spent the summer on a private raised-water level area near Martock, where at least one of the pair were moulting. The autumn and winter were spent with the main Somerset flock and Pippa was clearly still paired with Cosmo in the early Spring of 2015. The pair disappeared for a couple of months in May/June although there were occasional sightings of a pair of unidentified cranes at the quiet rushy site that the pair had been the previous year, and then sightings of single birds (still not id’d) through May. Pippa and Cosmo were then both re-sighted together in this same location in mid June, without any chicks. We have very strong suspicions that this pair made an unsuccessful breeding attempt at this location. Fingers crossed for 2016! February 2016: Pippa spent the autumn and winter on the Somerset Levels and Moors. It is not yet clear if she is paired up with Cosmo again. Watch this space! July 16 Set up territory on Wetmoor, Somerset during February. Incubation started at the end of March but failed after 6 days, possibly predated by crows. No further attempts made. July 17: Paired with Cosmo in 2016 but neither was seen up to the end of March 2017. On 2nd April they were observed together on Wetmoor then not seen again during May except one possible observation of Cosmo. Pippa was observed acting as a pair with Wiz on Wetmoor on the 20^th June. It is unlikely that she bred with Cosmo and there is no evidence of any nesting activity from Pippa. Seen with the flock in the Autumn. Sept18 Pippa has not been seen or re-sighted since April 2018. However in October she and mate Wiz were observed with a juvenile. A well kept secret. Sept 2019: Observed on Whitmoor with Wiz and their 2018 juvenile on 16^th February. By the 10^th April seen in territory on Wetmoor with Wiz. Observed incubating on 17^th April. Hatch took place on the 18th or 19th May. Observations through the summer indicated that chick was likely still present, but observed feeding with no sign of chicks in August so assumed failed at late stages of chick rearing. 2020: Pippa and Wiz were observed in their territory on Wetmoor, Somerset, in late March. Known to be incubating in late April but failed by early May. Pippa has been seen with Wiz together with the flock on West Sedgemoor in the Autumn. Sept 2021: Pippa and Wiz were observed regularly on their territory on Wetmoor, Somerset Levels and Moors, from January to March. Observed nest building on 25th March but still feeding together 5th April. Pippa was identified as one of a pair nesting on Whitmoor and still sitting on 25th May. Appeared to have hatched by 8th June but evidence was confusing. Eventually both adults were observed with one chick which was ringed at the end of July and fledged by mid-August. The family were observed on West Sedgemoor, Somerset in September. Autumn 2022: Pippa and Wiz were seen on Wetmoor over the winter but were very difficult to find during the breeding season. A nest was discovered on Whitmoor, Somerset and incubation started on 15^th April but failed after 10 days and no further attempt was observed. They have been seen in September and October with the flock on West Sedgemoor without juveniles.