Few birds are quite as elegant as the blue crane. As I watched a pair feeding alongside a busy road in South Africa, against the rather incongruous backdrop of a herd of cows, I was struck by their sheer beauty. With a slender body, curved neck, long legs, elongated tail plumes and a subtle, dove-grey plumage, this bird really is the avian equivalent of a catwalk model.

But not all is well for the blue crane. It has the smallest global range of any of the world’s 15 crane species: apart from an isolated population in Namibia, almost all are found in South Africa, where it is celebrated as the national bird.

Once common and widespread, blue crane numbers have fallen steadily over the past 50 years, and today between only 25,000 and 46,000 individuals remain in the wild. If the downward trend continues, this species faces a genuine risk of extinction.

The reasons for the decline are tediously predictable. As a grassland specialist, when intensive farming takes over, the food supply is inevitably reduced. A lethal cocktail of threats, including illegal poisoning, disturbance, habitat loss and the climate crisis – which this year brought unseasonably early rains followed by drought – mean that its future is far from rosy.

But as I watched these beautiful birds, I could forget about their plight for a few moments and quietly rejoice in their exquisite grace.