Another site first - almost!

On Friday 1st March, just as I was leaving the site, a local resident described to me a massive bird they had just seen flying off from the site towards Hatfield. It sounded like a White Stork from their description and I couldn't quite believe I had been on site and missed it!

Sure enough, the next day, a White Stork was reported further east along the River Lea near Essendon. Although not relocated over the weekend I decided nevertheless on Monday to drive over to Essendon to check if it had reappeared. Driving along the fast B-road I glanced right over the flooded fields and there it sat, next to the River Lea in full view!

My immediate thought was to establish whether the bird was ringed or not and thereby ascertain if this was a genuine wild bird or part of a re-introduction programme. Some shakey video taken from next to the busy road gave me the answer in the form of a blue leg ring numbered GB9U.

That the bird was ringed confirmed it as part of an introduction programme and therefore not technically wild. Until such time as the British populaton of White Storks can be proved to be self-sustaining, ringed White Storks are classed as Category E that includes escaped birds and other introductions.

A quick email to the White Stork Project revealed that this bird is a male and was hatched in the wild at Knepp in West Sussex in 2022. It was then confirmed as being in Calais in February 2023. Presumably the bird has travelled even further south for winter and is now returning (as it would in the wild) to breed. Hopefully he will find a mate and somewhere to breed...maybe even in Herts.