How White Storks are returning to English skies for the first time in centuries
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For generations, they have been associated with new life and the patter of tiny feet. But storks are now enjoying a population boom of their own amid a conservation project that has seen them return to English skies for the first time in centuries. The White Stork Project, which is based at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, has 25 home-grown storks which have chosen to spend the winter in the UK.
![[Captive reared juvenile White stork (Ciconia ciconia) in flight over the Knepp Estate soon after release in August 2019]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/20/21/94320815-14306379-image-a-9_1737409579654.jpg)
The birds first laid eggs in 2020 and conservationists say the numbers are getting close to a 'critical mass' which could see the birds finally recover to numbers not seen for centuries. This year saw 53 chicks fledge at Knepp - double the previous year's 26 - giving high hopes that storks will start to recolonise other parts of England.
The secret of Knepp's success is creating a colony of more than 20 non-flying storks rescued from accidents with powerlines and roads in Poland. These are kept in a six-acre pen in the middle of the rewilding project.This helps attract wild birds from Europe and also gives Knepp's free-flying storks - offspring of the penned birds - confidence and security in numbers.
The White Stork Project, which is based at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, has 25 home-grown storks which have chosen to spend the winter in the UK. As well as stretching their wings in the air, the overwintering white storks can be found following the Tamworth pigs and longhorn cattle around the rewilding estate, trailing them for unearthed worms in the disturbed soil.
