Oxfordshire's first crane chick fledged in 500 years

The crane chick is the first to have hatched in Oxfordshire for 500 years, the RSPB says

The first crane fledgling has hatched in Oxfordshire for 500 years, a charity says.

The RSPB said the bird has now fledged at its Otmoor reserve, six years after a project was launched to encourage cranes to breed there.

The Great Crane Project started in 2015 but its first nesting pair did not produce offspring. A second pair last year has resulted in the new chick.

The project's Damon Bridge said it was one of 14 chicks to fledge this year.

The charity ran the Great Crane Project from 2015

Others have been bred in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire and South Wales.

Mr Bridge said: "Outside of the breeding season, when they are highly territorial, cranes are very social birds and form large wintering flocks.

"The return of the Otmoor pair to the Somerset Levels and Moors is so that they can mix and mingle with the other cranes and increase their chances of finding food through the tough winter months."

The Oxfordshire reserve, which has previously been owned by the Ministry of Defence and Friends of the Earth, has been operated by the RSPB since 1997.

Bitterns, marsh harriers and curlews have also nested at Otmoor this year.