SS15 wildlife watching

This blog was set up in mid-March 2020 during the emerging COVID-19 health crisis in the UK. It initially aimed to provide records of wildlife sightings and photographs from sites within walking distance of my home in the SS15 postcode area of Basildon in Essex during lockdown travel restrictions. Even though the pandemic has largely subsided, this blog continues to include my local wildlife sightings, my trips away from home plus some personal thoughts and reflections on other issues.

Sunday 17 May 2020

Amazing conservation and re-introduction success story!

On 15th May 2020, the White Stork Project announced that a wild White Stork chick had hatched in the UK for the first time for over 600 years at the Knepp Estate in Sussex.

The project to breed wild White Storks in the UK is a partnership of private landowners and conservation organisations and it aims to restore a population of at least 50 breeding pairs across the south of England by 2030.

I have seen White Stork in the UK on 4 occasions, most recently at Sheringham in Norfolk in August 2018.

However, I have both seen and successfully photographed large numbers of White Storks on my trips to Spain, northern Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, north east Poland, Estonia and the Netherlands. Here are some of my photos from those trips ....