News First wild stork chicks to hatch in UK in centuries poised to emerge

[Notebook]

Well. that's a bit of good news.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/ukne...-poised-to-emerge/ar-BB13dqLm?ocid=spartanntp

I seem to remember a town in Germany that had storks on its rooftops?

Long time ago on natural-history progs?

 

[Urwumpe]

I seem to remember a town in Germany that had storks on its rooftops?

Wait a minute - there used to be no storks in UK? :blink:


We have the white storks in almost every village. The nest above the house where I lived during my first years even has a popular webcam.

 

[Notebook]

Well, no!

As the item says not known here for hundreds of years. Coming back so that's ok.

Rather large birds, not sure our chimney stacks can take them...

 

[Marijn]

Wait a minute - there used to be no storks in UK? :blink:

Same here in NL. I never thought they wouldn't cross The Channel. They fly to Africa and back from here.

I've been once in Gibraltar. There I saw how an enormous gaggle of storks was catching lift in a wave system developed by this rock and after they had a lot of altitude, they went for it.

Here's a recent clip of a fellow club member seeing quite a bunch of them. Storks are beloved by the gliding community as they are the best example of how one should glide the animal kingdom has to offer. Unlike birds of prey, they use all sources of lift, not just thermals, and also optimize their straight flight.

edit: at 5:30

 

[jedidia]

Well, no!

As the item says not known here for hundreds of years. Coming back so that's ok.

But... but... how did you guys get babies over there all that time?? :blink:

 

[Notebook]

Same as everyone else...AmazonUK(est. 1664)

 

[Notebook]

A wild white stork chick has hatched in the UK for the first time in what is believed to be hundreds of years.
Three nests containing eggs were being monitored at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex.
In one nest, five eggs were laid and the parents were seen incubating them before removing eggshell from the nest.
The parents, which were thought to have attempted to breed last year, have been seen regurgitating food for their offspring.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-52675922

 

[Marijn]

Good news. But I wonder why a pair of breeding storks is such a rare event in the British Isles. Hopefully there are more to come.

Actually, I think the answer is quite straight forward. Storks use updrafts to gain altitude which they convert into distance, exactly like a glider does. They don't burn calories by flapping their wings.

The Strait of Gibraltar is less than 16km at the smallest crossing. The smallest crossing of The Channel is 32km.

In Southern Spain, you'll have excellent daily thermal conditions from early on in the season, rising to high altitudes. In North West France, conditions aren't that good early in the year. Most of the days do not have thermal conditions at all.

Global warming has a positive effect on thermals in Northwest Europe. It's not because of the warmer air which actually supresses the development of thermals, but the dryer ground is more likely to produce them.

So I think the coming of the storks to Britain is related to the warming of the earth. Crossing The Channel has become less difficult for them.

Just my two cents.

 

[Notebook]

Nice theory, but they could always use the tunnel, or the ferry...

From here;
https://www.cameronbespolka.com/you...their-heritage-in-the-uk-and-potential-future

The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is now extinct from Britain due to persecution (as a symbol of Christianity), habitat loss and hunting, although about 20 individuals are spotted annually across the UK. The last breeding record was a pair which famously nested on St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1416; 601 years ago. Nowadays all that is permanently left of these beautiful birds are place names (such as Storrington, West Susses, which was listed as ‘Estorchestone’ in the Domesday Book, meaning ‘homestead of the stork’) and records of their consumption at medieval banquets. The species also has a considerable presence in culture and folklore across the world, with familiar and unusual tales about their relationship with, and significance to, humans.

Don't remember storks having a history in culture here, not surprising if they went extinct 500 years ago.

 

[Marijn]

The last paragraphs point out that the long distance migration has only been understood recenly. I am not sure what 'understood' means here. I think it's just the observation of the fact that they travel long distances. Not how they travel long distances.

600 years ago was the ending of the Medieval Warm Period. So I think I got this right.

I've got a theory of why birds including storks travel in a V-pattern too. I can't find my answer to that question on the internet. Usually you'll find something about drag which doesn't make any sense to me. When gliders travel in the same direction, they natually form a V-pattern as well. There is a very simple reason to do so.

 

[Notebook]

Dolphins do the same thing with the bow waves off ships?

 

[Marijn]

Dolphins do the same thing with the bow waves off ships?

That's some other behavior I think. That makes me think of seagulls following a ferry. How do they do that? Does every seagull manage to find more calories when they follow a ferry than they spend flapping? That's a different (very interesting) technique: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_soaring

When flying in a V-pattern, each member of the V has a side-on view to the other arm of the V. Vertical differences in sink or rising air are therefore very easy to spot. You cannot see this from the ground. But edge-on, it's obvious.

So at every moment, the birds can see whether a course deviation to the left or right would be beneficial. The side where one arm of the V happens to be lower, that's the side to avoid. Simple. This also better describes the actual movement which is seldom in a straight line.

 

[Notebook]

UK TV CH4 has had an item on this, and looks like they may be following it.
Had to laugh as they mentioned the last recorded observations were one year after the battle of Agincourt.

Don't know if that was just to annoy the French viewers, but just in case...

https://www.channel4.com/news/stork-chicks-hatch-in-uk-for-first-time-in-centuries

 

[Marijn]

Don't tell me you haven't got Flamingo's in the UK either..

Groep flamingo's struint op de Wadden, en dat was al even niet gebeurd

Wie van vogelspotten houdt, moet deze dagen wellicht een tripje naar het wad bij Zwarte Haan in Friesland overwegen. Daar is een groep flamingo's neergestreken. Die waren daar al een tijd niet meer gezien.

www.rtlnieuws.nl

 

[Notebook]

No, not native as far as i know. In zoos and wildlife parks.

Our extensive royalty hunted and ate most wildlife over the ages.