Cranes next to the village that love cranes, 3 April 2020

Tranekær is a village on the middle of the island Langeland (The Long Island) in Denmark. It is the former capital of the Northern Langeland Municipality, now a part of the Langeland Municipality. Tranekær is also the home to a big manor, former a castle to defend the island from luting from tribes from Northern Germany and inhabited by a count who says that the manor is the oldest permanently inhabited house in Denmark. But back to the cranes. Literally Tranekær means the village that loves cranes. For many years there were no cranes around the village that loves cranes, but approximately 10 years ago they moved into the wetland south of Tranekær called Flådet. First, they were very shy but now they don’t take care of the cars passing on the road right next to Flådet. To avoid that the Flådet stays as grassland, it grazed by a group of stallions, that is deported here from a big herd of Exmoore ponies that grazes the southern tip of Langeland who also have the task of reducing the up growth of scrubs. The stallions are exported here from the southern tip of Langeland to avoid an inbreed of the Exmoore ponies here, and a new stallion with is imported to bring fresh genes into the population.

The Tranekær pair of cranes taking a brake and maintaining their plumage

The Flådet wetland with Exmoor ponies and crane

The Flådet wetland with cranes (in the centre of the picture)

A crane together with European roe deer, also known as the western roe deer or simply roe deer. The roe deer is a relatively small deer, with a a shoulder height of 65–75 cm, and a weight of 15–35 kg, and the crane is a big bird, Cranes are very large birds, often considered the world's tallest flying birds. And the crane on the picture is far taller than the deers!

One Exmoor pony and three roe deers.

One Exmoor pony and three roe deers.

View from The Medicine Gardens towards Tranekær Castle. The Medicine Gardens is a botanical garden for medicinal plants. https://medicinhaverne.dk/english/