Today's sightings and late news of another White Stork
White Stork
Late news for yesterday was of a ringed White Stork that arrived on the chimney pot of the Keeper's Cottage (Peter Scott's first home, excepting a barge on the canal in this area). It spent and hour preening and crowd gathering before spending the afternoon soaring over the reserve and following tractors that were busy cutting hay. It roosted on the centre building/Sloane Tower but has not been seen so far today. The story of this bird follows.
Lovely image by regular visitor Roger Bing @Photogramps
A White Stork’s Story
by Allan Hale & Stewart South
This is a tale that Allan and Stewart felt just had to be told:
Picture the scene; it is early morning on 21st June 2011 and Polish bird ringer Krzysztof Załuski is making his way to the village of Kleszewo in the province of Mazowieckie, some 70km due north of Warsaw. Krzysztof’s mission is to ring a brood of White Storks in the village. He climbs up to the nest and finds a brood of four healthy youngsters. He fits each of the young birds with a metal ring on one leg and a plastic colour-ring on the other. The purpose of the colour-rings being to enable the bird to be identified with the aid of a pair of binoculars, rather than having to capture it. One of the colour-rings was Green Z1213, and that particular bird is the subject of this story.
This unfortunate bird, along with 21 other White Storks, collided with power lines on migration south from Poland in, it is believed, 2014. In the same year Shorelands Wildlife Gardens, based at Dickleburgh, near Diss, imported all of these wild and injured White Storks from Poland to their centre amidst fears, apparently, that the Polish winter would be too cold for these birds, At Dickleburgh, the birds were being rehabilitated under the care and treatment of staff at Shorelands. And in November 2015 Shorelands were delighted to announce that several of the birds had recovered sufficiently to take to the air once again. Shorelands thought they would now have to decide if these White Storks should be transported back to Europe in spring 2016 to join the migration north or whether to wait and see what the birds decided to do?
As for Green Z1213 he (apparently it is a male bird) made his own mind up and decided to go wild again, without any human assistance. After departing Shorelands, it made its way across Norfolk to the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust at Welney where it was first seen on 27th February 2016. It lingered at Welney until 29th February when it flew off north at 10.25am. A mere 25 minutes later it was seen flying over Downham Market. It was located again on 4th March at Lyng, where it remained for three days, before going missing again.
On 10th March a posting on the NarVOS e-group alerted subscribers to the fact that a White Stork had just been seen at Nar Valley Fisheries. Allan and Stewart were among the early observers. And, of course, we know it’s the same White Stork as referred to above because its colour ring Z1213 could be read quite easily through a telescope. It was then that Allan, a licensed bird ringer, decided to seek out the ringing information about this bird. Stewart, for his part, Googled ‘White Stork Green Ring Z1213’ and that is how, between them, they have pieced together this fascinating tale On their sighting reports Birdguides and Rare Bird Alert identify this bird as an Escape, which is technically true. But this is no reared-in-captivity bird. This was once truly wild and it looks as if it is trying to become so again.
There have been further sightings of Z1213, at Wormegay High Bridge on 11th March, then at West Winch Common on 13th, at Blackborough End on 14th and at Setchey on 15th. The last confirmed sighting (at the time of writing) of Z1213 was near the River Nar at Wormegay High Bridge on 19th and again on 21st March. The White Stork sighting on the Isle of Wight on 17th March was clearly not the same bird.
What will happen to Z1213? Will it hang around locally? Will it have the strength or impulse to migrate back to Poland? Will it breed in the wild, in the UK? It’s got to find a mate first, of course! The last British White Stork breeding record is claimed to have been in Edinburgh in 1416. Six hundred years on, who knows what could happen?
In addition to this we know this bird has been seen in Herefordshire recently.
Rushy Pen Hide
Two Little Egret, 13 Green Sandpiper, pair of Avocet with fledged young and a Redshank on the scrape. A gathering of moulting duck/waterfowl which includes all the usual species- Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck etc.
Holden Tower/estuary
12 Avocet at high tide joined the two pairs with brood x1 and x2. 2 Common Sandpiper, a juvenile Little-ringed Plover and 5 Dunlin were also on the mud shelf with 40+ Curlew.
South Lake
3 male Ruff were among the 30+ Redshank, 100+ Black-tailed Godwit before most of the flock flew off to the Top New Piece. 3 Oystercatcher, 24 Teal, 70 Gadwall, pair GC Grebe with a juvenile, 3 Cormorant and plenty of Tufted Duck and Mallard on the deep lake. Three Green Sandpiper were also on the scrape.
Zeiss Hide
Many of the waders from South Lake as well as a pair of Avocet with three young, 18 Dunlin, 1 Common Sandpiper and 3 Green Sandpiper. A juvenile Mediterranean Gull was among the 150 Black-headed and Common Gulls.
