Storks set to be re-introduced to Sussex

This will be the latest batch of birds to arrive as part of an ambitious rewilding project at the Knepp Castle Estate near Horsham.

The large wading birds were likely wiped out in the UK after the Civil War in the 17th century, when royalists feared that storks — long a symbol of hope and new life — could be seized on as an emblem of uprising.

But now, that symbol is being reappropriated as the Knepp Estate seeks to bring the birds back beyond the fairytales of storks carrying babies in slings.

The estate hopes to see 250 white storks return to Sussex in the next five years.

The reintroduction is part of a Knepp Estate’s bid to transform 3,500 acres of unprofitable farmland into a haven for wildlife — including animals made extinct in Britain by human activity and rare species such as turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons and purple emperor butterflies.

The first flock of white storks arrived from Warsaw Zoo in 2016.

At the project’s outset, Knepp Estate selected injured, flightless birds being looked after at the zoo to launch the fledgeling scheme.

White stork project officer Lucy Groves said: “The idea was for the stationary storks to act as a magnet for wild birds passing through. We sometimes get storks flying across the country, but not nesting.”

That changed earlier this year, when a pair of storks nested on an oak tree in the estate and laid three eggs.

They would have been the first recorded breeding pair in the UK since 1416 — but the eggs failed to hatch. Nonetheless, Lucy remains optimistic.

She said: “The thing is, storks always return to the nest they’ve made: these were immature birds, but they’ll be back to breed again, and there’s a really good chance we’ll have some chicks.”

Lucy had just come back from catching up with the storks already on the estate.

She said: “They’re a sight to behold. They have a six foot wingspan — they’re such big birds, but they’re so timid and graceful. They don’t have strong wing muscles, so we often spot them gliding in circles on a thermal.”

“You see that grace when they’re stalking through meadows and wildflowers looking for insects too. They’re marvellous.”

“And that’s exactly what we need,” she said. “This is a beautiful way to get people talking about ecosystems and wildlife, and reigniting passions for the natural world,” she said.

“What better animal to do that than storks — the bearers of new life?”

The project is based on the principles of rewilding, an approach to conservation that has gained traction since the term was coined in the 1980s.

It involves restoring natural habitats and wild ecosystems. When needed, missing species are reinstated to protect the landscape, wildlife, and humans.