Breeding pairs of Cranes are thriving on the Somerset Levels

It has been a bumper breeding year for cranes reintroduced onto the Somerset Levels after an absence of nearly 400 years.

Thanks to a successful breeding programme at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, 21 pairs of cranes nested in the summer.

That is the highest number of breeding pairs since the Great Crane Project was launched in 2009.

The aim is to have as many as 275 breeding pairs across the UK in 50 years time.