Billy the bruiser rules Slimbridge cranes’ roost

Has developed a strange taste for slugs

July 2011: A small crane, who makes slugs and worms his dish of the day, has emerged as the surprise leader of the pack at this year's Crane School at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

Billy is one of the class of cranes being reared in the second year of the Great Crane Project.

As the cranes start to develop their personalities, one nicknamed Billy has exhibited some rather unusual characteristics. Although he is among the smallest, it is the most dominant of the cranes.

Eats until his beak is glued together
Billy runs at the other cranes barging them out of his path and struts around the exercise field. He has also developed a strange taste for slugs and worms. As they begin to forage, most cranes learn early on to avoid eating slugs as they ooze a sticky substance which temporarily glues their beaks together.

But when rain starts to fall Billy excitedly starts to dash around the field picking up any slugs or worms he spots until his beak becomes stuck together for 15 minutes or so.

These cranes are being reared by humans disguised as adult (‘mum' or ‘dad') cranes at Slimbridge Wetland Centre, so they are well-equipped for life in the wild and learn to fear people.

Fights any crane in his path

Pensthorpe Conservation Trust warden and Crane dad, Roland Digby, said: ‘You would normally expect one of the larger cranes to be the most dominant so it is a funny situation. We've nicknamed him Billy the Bruiser as he chases or tries to fight any crane in his path, they are all scared of him!

‘None of the other cranes would touch a slug or a worm so it is funny seeing Billy sprint around hunting for them - he really is one of a kind.'

The Great Crane Project, a partnership between WWT, RSPB and Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, with major funding from Viridor Credits Environmental Company hopes to re-introduce and establish a wild population of this iconic species in Somerset over the next ten years.

Using WWT's renowned specialist conservation breeding expertise, the cranes were brought over as eggs collected from sustainable wild populations in Germany to WWT's Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire, back in April. They will be released to join the cranes from the first year of the project in autumn this year.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/slimbridge-crane2011.html

WORLD FIRST: spoon-billed sandpiper chicks hatch in captivity

July 2011. The first critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper to hatch in captivity in the world was always going to be a spectacular sight, but when a Heritage Expeditions boat docked in Anadyr last night not one, not two, but an incredible 17 tiny, hatched spoon-billed sandpiper chicks emerged.


The incredibly ambitious mission to collect eggs from the rapidly dwindling number of nests on the breeding grounds in Chukotka and transport them thousands of miles via land, sea and air to the conservation breeding facility at WWT Slimbridge hatching has reached an important milestone.

Chicks hatched at sea
Incredibly eight of the chicks actually hatched just as the team were preparing to leave Chukotka. Describing his elation on docking safely in Anadyr, WWT's Head of Conservation Breeding, Nigel Jarrett said: "We boarded the boat with the eight newly hatched chicks, 12 fertile eggs, considerable anxiety about the trip on rough seas and a great deal of hope. We got off the other end with only three eggs, but an amazing 17 chicks and the remaining eggs poised to hatch any day, so I am as happy as happy can be."

Things have gone as well as could possibly have been hoped for so far, but saving this species is still going to be an uphill battle. A couple of the hatchlings aren't quite as strong as the others and we will have to accept that we will lose some.


Only 10% survive to adulthood
The survival rate for spoon-billed sandpiper chicks in the wild is extremely low. On average just four chicks fledge out of around 20 eggs laid and only one of these would survive to recruit into the adult population two years later. Taking these newly hatched chicks from hatching to fledging will be enough of a challenge on its own. However, even this is dwarfed by the work that we and our partners need to do to tackle the threats to the species in the wild.

Elizabeth Tambovtseva from Birds Russia is part of the team on the expedition. She said: "The excitement from the team when the first egg hatched and a tiny chick appeared was off the scale - we haven't slept for days with the stress and worry so it was a pretty emotional experience. All the partners have been working hard as a team to pull off this very important stage of the mission and it's paid off. I didn't get a chance to celebrate my birthday last week, but this belated present more than makes up for that!"
The conservation breeding expedition, led by staff from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) and Birds Russia, has support from the RSPB, BTO, BirdLife International, ArcCona, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force and Moscow Zoo. The project is funded by WWT and RSPB, with additional financial contributions and support from BirdLife International, the East-Asian Australasian Flyway Partnership, the Convention on Migratory Species, Heritage Expeditions and the Australasian Wader Study Group of Birds Australia.


WWT has launched a public fundraising appeal to save the spoon-billed sandpiper www.wwt.org.uk/spoonbilledsandpiper

All this work has been going on and around a Heritage Expedition trip

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/spoon-billed-sandpiper-chicks.html