Ireland's first breeding Cranes in 300 years are located in Offaly

Ireland's first breeding Cranes in three centuries are located on a bog in Offaly, the Midland Tribune has learned this week.

Until now environmental officers of different hues would only say the breeding pair was somewhere on a rewetted Bord na Móna bog in the Midlands, but they are now willing to narrow it down to one county, Offaly. However, fearing that the pair might be disturbed and frightened away, they won't specify which bog it is.

Ricky Whelan, Biodiversity Officer for Offaly County Council, told the Tribune that the birds “after an absence of three centuries have returned to a bog in Offaly to breed in the past number of years. There is one confirmed pair but we also suspect that there might be a second pair breeding in the wider midlands region. The actual breeding location is kept secret due to the sensitivity of the site and the risk to the birds if people were to disturb them.” He said the Crane breeding season is between April – July and they are hoping the Offaly pair will breed again during the Spring / Summer this year.

The pair's first successful breeding attempt on the Offaly bog was in 2021. They have bred each year. In 2023 they hatched two chicks. At the time Bord na Móna told the media that they were located on one of the company's rewetted bogs.

“The Common Crane, like woodpeckers, have moved west from Britain to Ireland thanks to conservation efforts in Britain,” Ricky pointed out. “These conservation efforts are so successful that the birds are being compelled to fly west to seek new breeding grounds.”

Most European cranes winter in places like Laguna de Gallocanta (up to 84,000 cranes) in northeastern Spain. They often use the same breeding nest year after year.

“The appearance of Common Cranes using a site that was re-wetted in the last few years is a real indication that we are creating the right conditions for these birds and for lots of other biodiversity,” said Mark McCorry, Lead Ecologist at Bord na Móna. “Getting to see this bird slowly flying low over the new wetlands has been a highlight for me during my career as an Ecologist”. He pointed out that Bord na Móna's peatland rehabilitation scheme is the most extensive of its kind ever undertaken in Europe. Rehabilitation commenced on 18 peatlands in 2021 and works on another 19 commenced in 2022. During the first year of the rehabilitation programme, Bord na Móna undertook the rewetting of some 8,000 hectares of peatland. The ultimate aim is to rehabilitate 33,000 hectares of bog.

“The restoration and rehabilitation of peatlands,” continued Mark, “is creating rich and diverse habitats for our native plant and animal species. Examples of the impact of this work on biodiversity includes Ireland’s only protected insect, the Marsh Fritillary butterfly, colonising Bord na Móna cutaway bogs and it is now found in numerous sites; colonies of water-dependent species such as dragonflies and damselflies establishing in newly created wetlands and the appearance of the Great-White Egret as well as the Common Crane. Sphagnum moss, a key species of peatlands, is starting to reappear on some sites that were re-wetted several years ago. There has also been a significant positive response from other birds such as the black-headed gull, lapwing and the common redshank. These are all species that are under pressure in the wider landscape, and by rewetting peatlands Bord na Móna is providing them with new wet habitats.”

Historically the common crane was a breeding resident in Ireland but has been extinct in this country since around the end of the 16th century, if not longer. Sightings in Irish skies of this species increased in recent years during periods of migration and overwintering, and hope began to build that pairs would start to breed.

Mark added that the Common Crane is more likely to continue to increase in Ireland now that suitable supporting habitat is available in rewetted peatland areas.