More crane chicks born in Ireland after 300-year absence

Until last year cranes were absent as a breeding bird in Ireland for more than 300 years

Two common cranes have successfully hatched two chicks at a rewetted peatland in the Republic of Ireland.

Their exact location is being kept secret to protect and conserve the birds and avoid them being disturbed.

Until last year the birds had not been breeding in Ireland for more than 300 years.

They bred successfully at the same site in 2021.

The cranes are on land owned by former peat producer Bord na Móna.

Bord na Móna said the pair returned and hatched the chicks several weeks ago, adding that a third crane is using several other sites.

Their ecology team believes the third young adult may have been a chick from the original pair of cranes, or an Irish-bred bird.

In January 2021, Bord na Móna ceased peat harvesting for good and has been rehabilitating thousands of hectares of boglands, rewetting the drained sites.

Work on another 19 sites is commencing this year.

In the UK, cranes had their most successful year in 2021 since the 17th Century, experts said.

Lead ecologist at Bord na Móna, Mark McCorry, told RTÉ: "It is particularly significant that these are some of the first cranes born here in centuries."

He said it showed the right conditions for the birds had been created.

"Getting to see this bird slowly flying low over the new wetlands has been a highlight for me this year," he said.

Bord na Móna has been rewetting thousands of hectares of drained peatland

The scientific name of the common crane is Grus grus and it is also known as the Eurasian crane, due to its distribution across northern Europe through to eastern Siberia.

It is also one of the loudest birds in the UK with a piercing, honking call

Cranes are omnivores eating a range of invertebrates, small vertebrates, and plant seeds, roots and shoots.

The birds are quite vulnerable to disturbance, particularly during the breeding season.

In the wild, cranes normally live for about 20 years, though they have been known to reach 40 years old.