Patience

Profile Picture and Leg Ring Combination Code

• White
• Red
• Black

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:

January 2015: White Red Black (Patience) was clingy, nervous, and rather vocal as a chick, and has no siblings. She has matured into a lovely, elegant crane.  She is also developing a very dark fore-head - the darkest of the group this year.  She is one of this year's cohort that wears a back-pack mounted GPS data-logger as well as leg-mounted radio tag. She was one of a group of 9 youngsters that broke away from the main flock to spend most of December on Kingsmoor near the village of Illchester.  July 2015: Patience has spent the spring and summer mainly feeding on Nortmoor (Aller) and Northmoor near East Lyng, and roosting most of the time on West Sedgemoor.  The whole non-breeding flock appear to be thriving on the Levels and Moors this year. February 2016: Patience spent a rather unremarkable  autumn and winter of 2015/16 on the Somerset Levels and Moors spending time in a flock that fed on the whole across Wetmoor, Aller moor, and West Sedgemoor. She is likely to remain as part of the non-breeding flock through the coming Spring and Summer.  July16: All the birds in this cohort are 2 years old and too young to breed so there were no nesting attempts. They have been in Somerset as far as can be ascertained but difficult to find and identify during the breeding season.  Nov 17:  Appeared to be paired with Pickles (2012 male) but returned to the flock without attempting to breed.   Sept 18:   Seen with Pickles away from flock in December and then occasionally in other areas until April when they settled on W Sedgemoor.  Incubation on the first nest started on 17th April but the nest failed on 30th April.  They were back on territory on 5th May and observed mating.  Few sightings from then on but on 5th June incubation of a second nest was confirmed.  They were thought to have hatched from 1st July but the chick or chicks were never seen in the long vegetation.  The chick or chicks were lost by 13th July - cause unknown.   Sept 2019:  Observed with Pickles and an unringed bird on Whitmoor, Somerset on 16^th February.  The pair were then observed during April in the territory they occupied in 2018 on West Sedgemoor.  Incubation started on 15^th April.  On 17^th May, parent behaviour suggested they had hatched but no chicks were observed until 21^st May.  They stayed in the area close to the nest until the juveniles fledged in early August. An attempt was made to catch the juveniles to ring -but the family proved elusive.  They were observed with their parents in the main flock in late August.    2020:   The pair were on their West Sedgemoor, Somerset territory on 11^th March.  Incubation was confirmed on 14^th March with 2 chicks seen in early May.  The chicks fledged sometime before 14^th July. The pair with their juveniles has been observed regularly with the flock on West Sedgemoor during the Autumn.   Sept 2021:   Patience and Pickles observed regularly on West Sedgemoor, Somerset with their two 2020 juveniles from January to March.  Observed without juveniles on 9th March and incubation confirmed between 9th and 14th March.  Observed with two chicks on 14th April.  One chick lost c 23rd April and by 14th May the pair were observed with no chicks.  No further breeding attempt and the pair observed on West Sedgemoor during September.     Autumn 2022:   Patience and Pickles were observed regularly on West Sedgemoor, Somerset Levels and Moors from January to March.  They started incubation on 26th March in their territory and successfully hatched 2 chicks which went on to fledge in July.  Another very successful year for this pair.  They are seen regularly on West Sedgemoor.

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Photos of Patience

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