In 1991 I had been at a trade show when the Shetland Sandhill Crane turned up. In 2009, I had been in Australia when the South Ronaldsay bird arrived on Orkney.
News of the adult Sandhill Crane on mainland Scotland gave the potential to see a much wanted blocker. 18 hours after news broke, John Clements and I were watching a Sandhill Crane at St Combs - job done!
Adult Sandhill Crane
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-BRJ7w_o7Ne-iTTSQjkR9tgKBorjiK4UGBfrZ_MnrZnmwYU30zKwE0kZkEaTHwL-XV-_l9fHNmgU5BHPLIRoWwF6Q3PWXXFPPVRCkzx2DVcOTwpelLN6dcdetE1-2AMDdcsoXwX4jA4/s320/DSC_0071.JPG)
Seen feeding at 70-80 metres range, the bird was feeding in recently harvested cereal crops. It seems that the bird has actually been around 6 days already as a visitor to the RSPB's Loch of Strathbeg reported a crane last Saturday....