Record number of cranes bred in UK in 2025

It's good news for the UK's tallest birds - a record number of cranes bred in 2025, conservationists say.

There were 87 pairs, which raised 37 young cranes last year, bringing the total population in the country to around 250 adults and younger birds.

Cranes went extinct in the country around 400 years ago, due to the loss of their wetland habitat and over-hunting.

Conservationist John Oliver, who works for the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust said: "To reach a population of 250 is a phenomenal achievement but we still have a way to go."

The crane is Britain's tallest bird and can grow up to a metre tall, with a whopping two-metre wingspan.

They are mainly grey and have long legs, a long neck and drooping, curved tail feathers.

They eat seeds, roots, insects, snails and worms.

Cranes are known for complex courtship displays and loud calls that can be heard several miles away.

The great crane project, a partnership between the RSPB, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) and the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, boosted numbers by hatching and releasing cranes in Somerset, creating a nesting habitat with the help of local farmers.

Cranes have benefited from individual landowners and conservation organisations protecting and restoring drained wetlands that cranes use to rear their chicks, bird charity the RSPB said.

At least 80% of the breeding population are now found on protected sites, it added.

Flocks of more than 100 birds can now be seen in the Fens in winter, with some cranes now also living in Scotland.

Oliver said: "The recovery of cranes in the UK is a real conservation success.

"It demonstrates the resilience of nature and what can be achieved by working together."