Good to see both storks and cranes are starting to breed successfully in the U.K., and the bustard programme here in Wiltshire seems to be producing positive results as well.
Sometimes these reintroductions just happen naturally, like little egrets and great white egrets, both of which have come back to the U.K. and bred, the little egrets are all over the place now, I saw one at Lacock a few years back, to my surprise, but I’ve seen great white egrets between the two Severn Bridges while I was out for a walk a while back.
There’s a glossy ibis on the Somerset Levels as well.
A lot of their success is down to growing areas of wetlands with large reedbeds, the crane programme has been running on the Levels near Taunton, although I’ve not been down that far to see them yet.
I’d love to see storks flying around here, as well as cranes, magnificent birds.
Kites are starting to show up in my part of North Wiltshire, including over my house, which I never thought I’d see, and I saw an osprey on the edge of town several years ago as well.
Then there’s the sea eagles, attempts to get golden eagles into England, and eagle owls seem to be re-establishing themselves in the north-east, despite one official body claiming they’re an illegal release and shouldn’t be here, when there’s evidence they’re a native bird that was wiped out, and has come back across from mainland Europe.
