160, fabulous!

Further great news, we are lucky in Norfolk as we have nearly 40 cranes around the Hickling area.  First came here in the 1970's

I was in Dummer See in Germany last week which is on the Western Migration Root.  Whilst there, about 1000 cranes were coming into roost every night at the Rehdener Geestmoor.  A fabulous site at Dawn and Dusk.  By the end of October there should be up to
100,000 cranes in the area although numbers are reducing.

Speaking to the campsite owner he puts the blame on the EU CAP which is having an adverse effect on the birds feeding grounds. Farmers are intensively farming Maize as they get a guaranteed 800 euros a hectare which is fine but it encourages the farmers
to plough the fields within 24hours of cutting the crop.  These fields are the favourite feeding grounds of the Cranes so ploughing makes feeding more difficult

Our Norfolk cranes tend to hang around Hickling Broad all year.  A few have moved to Lakenheath Fen where they have been breeding over last couple of years

Common Crane found dead on the Somerset Levels at end of September, looks like it had been shot.  Hope they catch the culprit.  

Brue The greatcraneproject via one of the birding blogs I subscribe to

The supposition is that it was a wild fowler but they must have realised by size that it was a protected species.  Incidentally I think wild fowl shooting should be banned

Part text of an e-mail I received this morning,  I've seen 1 woodcock in the last 5 years so where are they all?

The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “Introduce
a moratorium on the hunting of critically declining wading birds”.

Government responded:

It is unlikely that hunting has had a significant impact on recent population trends for woodcock, snipe and golden plover; trends are likely to be influenced more by the quality and extent of habitat

All wild birds are protected in accordance with the provisions set out in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, however, some species of birds (as listed in Schedule 2 of the Act) may be killed or taken outside the close season. Woodcock, snipe and golden
plover are amongst those species that may be taken. In England and Wales the dates for woodcock are 1 October to 31 January; common snipe 12 August to 31 January; golden plover 1 September to 31 January.




Shooting is a legitimate activity and in addition to providing jobs and investment in some of our most remote areas, it can offer important benefits for wildlife and habitat conservation. The Government’s manifesto commits to protect shooting for the benefits
it brings to individuals, the environment and the rural economy.

Recent data shows that the woodcock has a breeding population or around 78,000 pairs; common snipe 76,000 and golden plover between 38,000 and 59,000. Overwintering populations increase their numbers to approximately 1.4 million (woodcock), 1 million (common
snipe) and 400,000 (golden plover). The numbers in winter are greatly increased as a result of birds arriving from Scandinavia, the Baltic States and Russia and many of our breeding birds (and their offspring) leave the country in winter.

Interesting reading Brue