At the end of a quite idyllic and surprising un-damp cycle through the Surrey hills last night, my friends and I came upon a remarkable sight. Wonderful as they were, I am not referring to the massive ancient oaks we passed on Puttenham common or the red deer, raising its head from its munching as we passed a field. This was something of another magnitude of rare and special.
With the sun-setting behind us, we came off the toe-path of the river Wey, crossed the foot bridge to the town side and spotted something for the first time in our lives. Something white, large and loping caught the attention of my peripheral vision. Thirty meters away, disappearing up a small road to our right was a bird that my brain could not quite register. Was it a heron? No, too large. Was it a spoon-bill? No, wrong beak. I called out to the others and Phil immediately said, "Stork!".
In case you did not know, white storks used to be wide-spread in the UK, but were driven to extinction on these shores hundreds of years ago through a combination of hunting (they were a favourite on medieval menus) and habitat destruction. The last recorded breeding pair in Britain was at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1416. That is, until now...
Thanks to ambitious conservation and re-wilding work, in the last couple of months the first recorded wild storks have been born in the UK for 600 years in West Sussex (https://knepp.co.uk/white-storks).
And here before us in 2020 in suburban Guildford was a white Stork! We could not believe our eyes. As quietly and quickly as we could, we crossed the main road and crept up Great Quarry lane. We feared we had lost the rare visitor, but turning the corner, there it was. I could not believe how big it was. Half my height, with long, sharp beak, immensely long legs and an exaggerated lollop as it moved down a small footpath.
We followed at a distance until it took a turn through a gap in a fence into a raised patch of a garden. Then followed a beautiful few minutes. The stork strolled around in a confident manner, allowing us to watch over the fence from a short distance away. While he kept half an eye on us, he did not seem bothered at all, spending most his time searching for food in the undergrowth (most likely frogs).
Still spellbound, but conscious of leaving the bird in peace, we eventually put bums backs on saddles and rode off. I was on such a high. How fantastic to see such majestic birds on our shores!
Postscript - having reported the sighting to Knepp Wildlife, they confirmed it is not one of their birds. The tag was not visible, so we can't tell for sure, but they thought it likely to be an escapee from Bird World... Escapee, migrant or resident, it was a great sight and it made me so grateful storks are back and breeding in southern England!
