A YOUNG female crane at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre has laid her first egg three weeks late due to the cold Spring weather.

Staff at the wetland centre were delighted to find the bird, Ruby, and her partner Bart quickly built a nest.

With the help of volunteers, staff have set up a watch to protect cranes against egg thieves, and are on hand in a hide to show the birds to the public.

The nest is now also protected by heat sensitive camera traps, which will monitor any disturbances.

To further bolster the nest’s defences, ditches in the reserve have been deepened and fences put up to keep out predators such as badgers and foxes, which last year killed two crane chicks.

WWT Slimbridge Reserve Warden Martin McGill said: “This time last year we were watching for the first crane eggs to hatch, but Ruby and Bart have only just nested.

“It’s a late spring for the natural world. There’s less grass and vegetation and there aren’t as many insects, so the cranes’ natural response is to put off breeding.

“Now that they have nested, we’re obviously delighted. They’ve chosen a good spot surrounded by water where several pairs of geese have already successfully raised young this year. That’s a good sign that it’s relatively safe from predators. We’re doing all we can to protect Ruby and Bart’s nest without disturbing them.”

Ruby and Bart were hand-reared in 2010 and released as part of the Great Crane Project, a partnership between WWT, RSPB, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust and Viridor Credits, which reintroduced nearly 100 cranes to the West Country.

The project’s aim is to restore cranes to their former haunts across the UK. They were heavily hunted and eventually driven to extinction when large areas of wetland were drained in the 1600s.

Ruby and Bart made their first attempt to breed last year but failed to hatch either of their eggs. At just five years old they are relatively young for cranes and it’s hoped that they will have learned from their experience.

For more information visit: wetland-centres/slimbridge/