Lakenheath cranes developments .............................Katherine Puttick

Siberia six times (at first searching in vain for nesting Slender-billed Curlew), and never seen a Needletail, it is astonishing to have connected with the species so much closer to home. I am left wondering how many such birds may go unseen or unreported (particularly in the more remote parts of the UK with few birders). If Mark and I hadn’t been held up that morning by bad weather and had just driven through Tarbert, would the bird have been picked up by others – and how long might it have already been on Harris for? A clear lesson from this experience is to always check every sighting carefully, and follow up on unconfirmed reports, however implausible the species might appear to be.

References Norman Elkins ‘Birds and weather’, Poyser 1988 Josep del Hoyo et al ‘Handbook of the Birds of the World’ vol. 5, Lynx 1999 Ian Newton, ‘Bird Migration’, New Naturalist 113, 2010

Katherine Puttick

Lakenheath Cranes’ developments

It is sad to report that this year the cranes have had a disappointing breeding season.

‘Peg-leg’ in flight One pair, ‘Little and Large’, failed at the egg stage on their first attempt as the eggs were predated. They then moved location, re-laid and hatched chicks towards the end of May but, unfortunately after about a week, the chick or chicks were also predated. The other pair have been very confusing, and after many hours of watching, Norman Sills suspects that our original ‘Pair A’ have been replaced by a different pair! The new pair attempted to nest in the same area that ‘Pair A’ have for the past five years, leading us to initially think that it was business as usual. However, Norman had noted differences in bustle colour to the original pair. Whether the pair have just swapped partners or our original pair have been completely ousted we can’t be sure. Unfortunately this new pair failed to fledge any young after two nesting attempts. There have been sightings of other birds around, including a pair and a single bird with only one leg! ‘Pegleg’ as we call it, has been around for most of the summer and seems to cope quite well with its single leg.