Not a lot about this morning …….until these 3 Cranes flew over!
http://andyburnsphotography.zenfolio.com/waders/h368b440d#h3be4e3b9
The were quite low heading west and then started to circle near the car park for about 5 mins as they gained some height (presumably in a thermal) until they headed off west again. The first shot shows the 3 birds, the second is a close up of the lower right bird. Notice it has tags (or GPS senders?) on the top of both legs. The bird on the lower left has no tags. The top bird may have a blue tag on its left leg but difficult to see.
After a few phone calls, all the birders at Cossie had a good view.
Andy
Glamorgan Bird Club 
Nice one Andy/Lol. Ta for the call/txt. Glad you got some pix – looks as though they were initially pretty low over you two.
Nice shots Andy. Just wondering… is the untagged bird potentially a ‘proper’ wild bird? I was under the impression that all GCP birds were tagged.
John, when they appeared they were probably around 200ft. After circling they ended up at around 600-1000ft ( I guess). I know Cranes fly mainly by riding thermals then gliding so they must have needed to go ‘up’ again after crossing the Bristol Channel. I wonder where they were off to?
Chris, all the birds released on the levels were tagged but it has been going on quite a while. They hoped they would breed and I am sure some ‘unringged’ birds have been seen back at Slimbridge. There was one out on the estuary there last time I went last month.
Great to see they flying by.
Andy
I’ve just had a good look at all the photos taken, and all birds are ringed. The top bird has plastic rings on the top of both legs (as per the bird bottom right), and a small metal ring at the bottom of his left leg. The bird on the bottom left has a small metal ring on the bottom of his left leg, and perhaps the remnants of a plastic tag at the top of his right leg. There is no plastic tag at the top of his left leg.
I will have a look on the internet to find out who is ringing them and let them have the details.
Andy
Nice shots Andy
A lot of the ringed Cranes are shown individually on the GCP website. When I was photographing the Crane nest at Slimbridge last week, there was a wild unringed Crane with them. I may post some pics later.
Keen to see some photos Paul
I spent a bit of time on the GCP website this evening and the bird on the bottom right is Tamsin, a 4 year old female. The bird at the top is Chocolo, a 2 year old male. The 3rd bird may have had a plastic ring – I have emailed the project to find out.
Andy
Very well caught Andy & thanks for all the info – very interesting !
As promised, I’ve put a few Crane pictures on the South Wales Birding page on Facebook
I have had a report of 3 cranes yesterday on a small private wetland area near Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan. – possibly the same birds..?? Damon, Project Manager, The Great Crane Project.