A NAVY veterans' group has offered to support a scheme to reintroduce cranes into Britain because their ship was named after the bird.

The HMS Crane Association was so delighted to hear about the crane school at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust that they went to visit them last year.

The crane school teaches Britain's largest bird, that has been extinct in the UK for hundreds of years, how to live and defend itself before they reintroduce them back into the wild.

This year the HMS Crane Association went back to see the new cranes at the school and offered to adopt a crane.

"When we heard about the WWT's plans to reintroduce cranes to the UK after hundreds of years of extinction on these shores we were keen to get involved," said Roy Lidgett, who served on HMS Crane from 1957 to 1959.

"The WWT need to raise funds for rearing facilities - adopting a crane is just one of the ways ordinary people like us can help."

Visitors to WWT Slimbridge can see the new young cranes as they are taken for a walk through the marsh garden at intervals throughout the day.

Then twice a day - at 11.30am and 2.30pm - small groups of visitors will be able to put on a crane costume and join the experts as they teach the cranes how to survive in the wild.