Common cranes are emerging from extinction

Now ornithologists are celebrating after 56 pairs were recorded last year – a new record high.

The total population is believed to be more than 200 birds, with Aberdeenshire firmly established as a key stronghold.

Meanwhile, in another boost for wildlife lovers, a landmark international study suggests terrestrial insect numbers in the UK have broadly held up despite a global slump.

Welcoming the crane’s resurgence, Hywel Maggs, a senior conservation officer for RSPB Scotland, said recent sightings were “really exciting” and a sign the slender-necked animals could have a bright future.

North of the Border, they were first recorded returning to breed in 2012, with Aberdeenshire becoming their home after an absence of around four centuries.

Since then, the area has hosted Scotland’s only breeding cranes.

Two pairs have successfully raised nine chicks and it is thought some of these are pairing up with others to add to the population.

Optimism continues to grow, with RSPB experts noting that, in 2019, a minimum of 17 common cranes spent the spring and summer in Aberdeenshire.

Eleven were also seen together last August, a record breaking tally for the area that sparked huge excitement among bird-watchers and conservationists.

Positive signs have continued to emerge this year. In February, common cranes were recorded at potential breeding sites, with pairs also returning to the most established nesting grounds in March.

Today, around one in 10 UK cranes are thought to be living in Scotland.

South of the Border they are breeding in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire, as well as Somerset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

Wildlife officers said they were hopeful of a further expansion in numbersbut stressed this would depend on the availability of safe nesting sites.

“It’s really exciting that early sightings this year suggest cranes may have occupied three new nesting sites in addition to the three established

sites that are occupied most years,” said Mr Maggs.

“The increase in the number of birds we are seeing for long spells in the summer also suggests we could be on the cusp of a significant population expansion.

“However, for this expansion to be sustained, we need to ensure there are places for the new pairs to nest safely.

“Many of the potential nest sites such as peatlands and other wetlands are threatened by drainage and disturbance.”

The increase in Britain’s crane population comes as hope grows for much smaller members of the animal kingdom.

A major new study, led by

Roel van Klink, of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research

in Leipzig, indicates terrestrial insect numbers here have remained more or less stable even though they

dropped by nearly one per cent per year globally during recent decades. The research incorporated more than 160 longer term surveys from almost 1,700 sites and found that, while freshwater species had fared better overall, there were alarming species declines in places such as Germany and America’s mid-west.

Maria Dornelas, from the Centre for Biological Diversity at the University of St Andrews, said the analysis provided a “hopeful message”.

“The figures for terrestrial insects are not showing a decline for the UK, or only a very marginal one,” she said.

“This could be due to a number of factors. In the UK there are perhaps more mixed agricultural practices, and types of agricultural practices – for example, in agricultural farming – that are beneficial and are not allowing such dramatic declines here as you have perhaps had in other places.

“In places where you have very intensive use of agricultural pesticides, for example, you have these much more dramatic declines. [The data is] telling us it’s not all doom and gloom, and that some of the things people are doing in the UK are not harming insects.”

She stressed more data was needed, adding: “We need a lot more to really understand what’s happening in particular places and at particular times.”