Survey Launched on Proposed White Stork Reintroduction Across Britain

Farmers, landowners, and members of the public are being canvassed on whether storks should be reintroduced across Britain. Ornithologist and Harper Adams University student Sophie Rabone is researching bringing white storks back to Britain after their disappearance in the 1400s due to over-hunting and habitat loss.

Rabone, from South Staffordshire, is looking into the feasibility of a large-scale reintroduction.

The Bbc reported that her work will examine how well the white stork can adapt to different environments and habitats, alongside what the public, farmers and land managers think about the plans. She is asking people to share their views by completing a survey as part of her PhD at Harper Adams University, which is based in Shropshire.

"As a species historically native to Britain and closely associated with the wetlands and farmland that have suffered most, its return signals a recovering landscape that benefits countless other species alongside it," she said.

Rabone added that the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. "After decades of intensive agriculture, habitat loss and urban expansion, nature has paid a huge price," she stated. " White storks had been extinct in Britain for centuries before a number of small-scale reintroductions.

Some breeding populations of white storks have already been introduced at selected sites in Britain. Last June, 10 white storks were released in North Devon, in south-west England as part of a long-term rewilding project. In December, plans were announced for a breeding colony of white storks to be introduced to Eastbrookend Country Park in Dagenham in London for the first time in 600 years.

"Increasing biodiversity not only has beneficial effects on the natural ecosystem - but also on the human populations that share the space," Rabone said. She told the Bbc she hoped her research work would have an impact in the future.