Binoculars in hand, I’m hunkered down beside the floodplain at the RSPB’s Nene Washes nature reserve in Cambridgeshire, England. It’s a cold, late-winter morning and there are few people around, but I’ve come early to try to get a glimpse of a giant among British birds: the common crane.
There are few wildlife spectacles as impressive as cranes performing their courtship dance. The graceful, leggy common crane (Grus grus) stands at a lofty four-foot tall. It has a dove-grey body, black-and-white neck, crimson crown, and a black bustle. It is one of the loudest birds in Europe too: their deep, bugling call can be heard 6km away.
