Two crane chicks have hatched in what conservationists hope will be the first successful breeding attempt for wild cranes in western Britain in four centuries.

Adult crane pair Monty and Chris have nested at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) Slimbridge reserve in Gloucestershire for the second time in two years.

Last year, the parent birds, which were hand-reared as part of the Great Crane Project reintroduction scheme, managed to hatch a chick but it died in bad weather before leaving the nest.

This year two healthy chicks have been spotted on their first walk away from the nest for their parents to feed them on grubs.

So far they have stayed close to the nest site, which indicates there is plenty of food around for them.

And that is good news for the youngsters as, according to the conservation experts, cranes usually hatch two chicks but one will perish if food is scarce.

Crane chicks compete aggressively for food and these two have been seen pecking and kicking each other.

Cranes were lost from the UK as a breeding bird in the 16th century as a result of hunting and the drainage of large areas of wetlands.

The Great Crane Project, a partnership between WWT, the RSPB and Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, with major funding from Viridor Credits Environmental Company, aims to restore healthy populations of wild cranes throughout the UK.

Norfolk-based Pensthorpe Conservation Trust has been working with Eurasian cranes for more than a decade and has a small population of wild cranes in its 500-acre reserve in the Wensum Valley.