Bop-Bop

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:

June 2013: Bop-Bop spends most of her time with the other birds, but becomes incredibly nervous after a conflict with tends to go off foraging if feeling threatened.  She is the sister of Bombus  - a male crane.  September 2013: Bop-bop was fitted with a backpack mounted GPS logger prior to release. January 2014: bop-bop was released in mid September and quickly integrated with the older birds, spending the autumn foraging with the flock on West Sedgemoor, along the Stoke St. Gregory ridge, and the winter on splashy pasture land on Stanmoor near the village of Stoke St. Gregory. The deep and prolonged flooding that affected the Levels and Moors through December and January does not seem to have had much of an effect on the new cohorts' welfare or integration. February 2015:  Bop-Bop spent all of 2014 as an integral part of the non-breeding and non-moulting flock on the Levels and Moors and towards the tail end of the year was frequently seen feeding in with a group on Southlake and Aller Moors to the west of Langport. July 2015: The spring of 2015 saw Bop-bop remain part of the non-breeding flock on the moors, spending a lot of time on Northmoor (Aller), Northmoor near East Lyng and West Sedgemoor.  February 2016: Bop Bop spent all the autumn and winter of 2015/16 on the Somerset Levels and Moors spending time in the main flock largely on Wetmoor, Aller moor, and West Sedgemoor.  She is possibly paired with Bombus, who she seems to spend a lot fo time with. Maybe 2016 will be their year for a first breeding attempt? July 16: Remained in Somerset and was seen for a while with Bombus but there is no evidence of either pairing or nest preparation this season.   Nov 17: She has been observed on West Sedgemoor and at Slimbridge during the season.  In May she was spotted with Gemma  in Wiltshire at Gemma’s 2016 nest site.  On one occasion a sub-adult was with them, which was probably Gemma’s chick from 2016. 3 cranes were reported form this site in late July – probably Bop-bop, Gemma and chick, but not confirmed.   She is back with the flock for the winter.   Sept 18: BopBop was observed early in the year with Gemma (also female) in Wiltshire but since then there has been no sighting.   Sept 2019:  Observed on Whitmoor, Somerset, with Gemma 26th January and again on 16 February.  Observed in Wiltshire with Gemma in early April 2019 as was the case last year.  Observed prospecting with an unringed bird which could be Gemma & Midnight's juvenile 'Moonraker’ at Cotswold Water Park.   BopBop was seen again in Wiltshire on her own possibly moulting in early August but then reported with an unringed bird on 22nd August.  BopBop was identified on Aller moor on 15th September. She was then seen and photographed on her own in December 2019 at Otmoor, Oxfordshire.   2020:  BopBop was observed at Otmoor (Oxon) on 17th March but wasn’t believed to be paired up.  She didn’t appear to hang around and has been observed regularly with the flock on West Sedgemoor during theAutumn.  Sept 2021:  BopBop was observed on W Sedgemoor January and February.  She was observed at RSPB Otmoor, Oxfordshire and then on Wetmoor, Somerset Levels and Moors during March.  No further information during the season though she may have been in Wiltshire in April. She and her unringed mate were observed with flock on Whitmoor, Somerset Levels and Moors in September but there was no juvenile with them.   Autumn 2022: BopBop and her unringed mate were confirmed to be incubating on the 15th March on land south of Thorney, Somerset Levels and Moors.  They raised one chick to fledge but it did not survive.  BopBop was observed in October without a juvenile.             

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Photos of Bop-Bop

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