Nature: A Country Fit For Cranes
- 1 Jun 07, 04:10 PM
A few days ago,news that cranes have been confirmed as breeding in East Anglia’s fens after a gap of over 400 years, caused us to change our plans. That’s why, following a 12 hour train journey from north-west Scotland, presenter Mike Scott has joined me at the RSPB’s Lakenheath Fen reserve on a warm and sunny morning. We met Norman Sills, the site manager, for a pre-recording coffee- and- conflab. Norman tells us that because of the recent media attention, the reserve has been extremely popular with visitors. The nesting birds are unapproachable, because they clearly can’t be disturbed or seen in their dense jungle of reeds, but another non-breeding pair has been feeding in meadows at the far end of the fen. However the sheer number of crane- worshippers has made even this pair skittish and unpredictable, so Norman says that we’re very unlikely to catch even a glimpse of a crane. In my head, programme plans re-shuffle, possibilities loom, evaporate and re-form; something’s bound to work out!
What doesn’t help either, is the proximity of the US airbase at Lakenheath just down the road , Every few minutes , a brace of jets arcs across the fen emitting a booming roar which is guaranteed to make recording impossible. It’s going to be an interesting day.
We’ve planned to record a piece with Norman anyway, about his vital role in re-creating the fen, which astonishingly is just seven years old, so we head off into the wilderness behind the visitor centre. When the RSPB acquired the land eleven years ago, these were carrot-fields. The arrival of the cranes is the seal of approval on a bold project by the RSPB to re-create a fragment of the 1300 square miles of long-drained fen which once supported a huge suite of bird species. As we judder in the Land rover through the reed-fringed tracks, some of these long-lost birds greet us. Reed and Sedge Warblers jabber from the whispering stems, Gadwall and Grey Herons start up from the meres and ditches, and a Marsh Harrier sails serenely overhead: it’s a wonderful vindication of a vision realised.
But so far,there are no Cranes lurking in the vegetation, which overtops our vehicle’s roof and provides a dense screen which would hide an elephant. Then, suddenly, miraculously even, there’s a clearing in the stems, and to our right, two striped heads loom above the leaves. Straight out of a Japanese frieze, the cranes are next to us, huge and grey , marching alongside the Landrover. We drink in their long black –and white necks, dark dagger-bills , and brilliant crimson cockades, then quickly remembering what we have to do, turn on the equipment and record an interview with Norman there and then. Mike, twelve hours train journey a mere memory now, is thrilled, and sounds it, and Norman Sills blends pride in the birds with a concern for their safety. We record twenty minutes, Mike takes a very creditable photograph, and very happy indeed, we move on to record Normans second piece for the programme.
It’s a great start, and , as we congratulate ourselves, we suddenly realise that in all the excitement, we’d not even noticed the jets had stopped.
To be continued…
Nature: A Country Fit For Cranes goes out on Radio 4 on Monday June 25 2007 at 9pm & Tuesday the 26 at 11am
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