Cotton

Profile Picture and Leg Ring Combination Code

• Red
• Blue
• Yellow

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: Cotton was initially the largest of all the chicks, but has since been eclipsed by some of the younger individuals.  She is a very confident individual, and spends most of her time foraging for insects.  She is the sibling of Cherry.  January 2014: Cotton 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.  January 2015:  Apart from a few days in May, when she visited Slimbridge (the only 2013 cohort bird to do so this year) Cotton spent all of 2014 within the main flock on the Somerset Levels and Moors.  At the end of the year she was being seen regularly on Southlake and Aller Moors. July 2015:  April 2015 saw Cotton exploring once again and visiting WWT Slimbridge for a little in the Spring before returning to Somerset in May.  She has not been re-sighted since and we are hoping for a sighting soon.  February 2016: Cotton soon turned up  - still at Slimbridge and spent all the autumn and winter of 2015/16 there.   She is thought to be paried with Oakie.  Will they stay - or will they move on this coming Spring?  July 16: Was seen associating with Oakie but there is no evidence of nest preparation this season.  July 17:  Remained at Slimbridge always in the company of Oakie but there is no evidence of nest preparation this season.  This pair appear to be often in the company of Evie, another female.  They remained at Slimbridge.   Sept 18:  Remained at Slimbridge and is not known to have paired or made any breeding attempts.  Sadly the remains of Cotton were found in late September 2018 and post mortem showed that she had died of Avian TB.              

Crane Champions

Photos of Cotton

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