Easter Beans

Profile Picture and Leg Ring Combination Code

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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:

September 2012: Once the most dominant bird of the group, Easter Beans became quite shy after a slight injury to her leg. She spent most of her time by the water channel at Slimbridge and became a bit of a loner. She loved to fly though, and could easily be identified by her striking ginger head. She was one of the most ginger of the year's cohort.  Throughout August, Easter Beans was steadily recovering from her leg injury and slowly got back to her old, rather boisterous self, albeit looking slightly hunched at times.   She was the first to head out of the aviaries on release day and was seen dancing around in the enclosure in the afternoon - full of the joys of freedom!  January 2013: As autumn turned to winter, the cranes began to flock together to look for food, which they found in plentiful supply in the form of maize left in fields from the harvest.  All 48 have been spending most of their time either feeding in the maize stubble or on Stan Moor, completely unperturbed by the surrounding floodwater.  January 2014: 2013 was a largely uneventful and peaceful year for Easter Beans, 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 pasture, pulling up worms as part of a large flock.  July 2015: The spring of 2014 saw Easter Beans seemingly pairing up with Wally (2011 male) but the romance was short lived and she was soon back on her own.  She very briefly visited Slimbridge during April but returned to spend the summer, autumn and winter on in Somerset.  In the spring of 2015, however, she disappeared but sightings were soon coming in of a pair of cranes – which turned out to be Easter and Wally together on land in East Somerset near Templecoombe.  They seemed to occupy a territory for a while through May, returned to the Levels and Moors for a bit but were last seen back near Templecoombe in June.   Easter is due to moult in the summer of 2015 and we await a re-sighting with interest. February 2016:  She was finally re-sighted in November 2015 - after being missing for most of the summer and autumn, (although most likely undergoing a moult for at least some of it) back in Somerset where she remained all winter with the main flock down on the Levels and Moors.  Perhaps she'll head to East Somerset again later in the Spring?  July 16: There were unconfirmed reports that this pair had returned to land near Templecombe in East Somerset. On 30 th March they were seen on West Sedgemoor with a group on non-breeding birds. There has been no evidence of nesting attempts reported.   Nov 17:  Easter Beans seen with Wally in the Somerset flock  on the 26th April. Not seen again during the breeding season. Observed back with the flock in the Autumn.  Sept 18:  Wally paired with Easter and took up territory on West Sedgemoor in April.   Mating was witnessed and incubation started 24th April but failed on 25th April.  Observed mating on 26th April and incubation on a second nest started on 11th May but the nest failed on 16th May.  The pair continued to occupy their territory but no further nesting attempts were made.   Easter’s mate Wally has since died.    Sept 2019:  Observed on her own quite regularly on West Sedgemoor, Somerset, close to Timmy & Michaela’s territory in May.  She was not observed again until August when she was with the flock on Aller moor.    2020: Easter paired with an unringed bird on West Sedgemoor and was known to have hatched one chick which was later lost – cause unknown.  Easter has been observed with the flock on West Sedgemoor during the Autumn.    Sept 2021:  Easter and her unringed mate observed on West Sedgemoor, Somerset in January.  A nest was confirmed 17th March.  Still sitting 2nd April but on 6th April the unringed mate was acting agitatedly though he returned to nest.  By 11th April both birds were off the nest but very territorial - chasing off another crane. They were back on territory 19th April.  A second nest was confirmed 3rd May.  Still sitting 24th May and appeared to have hatched 5th June but no chicks observed.  Pair seen regularly in territory on West Sedgemoor in September.    Autumn 2022:  Easter and her unringed mate were observed on West Sedgemoor, Somerset Levels and Moors over the winter. Their first nest was recorded on 30^th March but lasted only 6 days.  A second nest was started in a similar location but did not last long.  The third nest was observed on 17^th May but again was abandoned.  The causes of these failures is unknown.  The pair have been seen on W Sedgemoor with the flock and on their territory during the Autumn.

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Photos of Easter Beans

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