The Stork Project in Skåne - reintroduction of white storks in Sweden - rewilding

In the 17th and 18th centuries, about five thousand pairs of white storks bred in southern Sweden, but a terrible storm during the spring migration of 1856 had such a severe impact on the population that it never recovered. In line with changes in agriculture, it declined further, and in 1954 the last pair bred at Karup's farm outside Blentarp. However, in 1989 a project was launched to reintroduce white storks to Skåne. Now there are over 100 wild storks there and more than 250 in captivity. You are welcome to visit several of the farms participating in the Stork Project. There you will get to see the big, beautiful birds up close.

The stork project has from the beginning been run by the Skåne Nature Conservation Society and the Skåne Ornithological Society (now BirdLife Sweden). It was started in 1989 at Karups Nygård, but was built on methods and breeding work from Aneboda in Småland, where storks had already been bred for a decade. The storks were moved from Aneboda and placed in large enclosures where arrangements were made for male and female birds to find a partner and start nesting. The farm has continued this task of "matchmaking", and it is Karin and Henrik Areskough who have been caring for the storks since the beginning.

Farm building at Hemmestorp's Mölla Storkhägn with a stork's nest on the roof

Farmyard with information posters at Hemmestorps Mölla Storkhägn

After the newly-wed pairs have managed to successfully nest, with at least one of the chicks surviving, they are transferred to one of the four other enclosures included in the project. After breeding there for a year, they are released into the wild to further develop into wild birds that migrate to Africa in the winter and hopefully return to nest in Skåne in the summer, as they did in the past.

Storks often build nests on roofs of houses or in the tops of trees. To make nesting easier, platforms have been set up for storks to build nests on.

In order for the stork to spread to as large parts of Skåne as possible, the project has established special enclosures for releasing birds into natural areas where they can live in the wild. The stork prefers open plain landscapes, and in the north most often wetlands. Established sexually mature pairs are placed in the release enclosures in the autumn, so that they can nest in this area when they are released in the spring. When a viable colony has been established there, the enclosure is moved to another location to repeat the process.

Enclosure for storks at Hemmestorp's Mölla Storkhägn

So far the project has been very successful. Many of the birds have made the transition to a life in the wild, and now there are more than 100 birds from the project breeding in Skåne. In addition, birds from other countries visit, and perhaps some of these will also start breeding here in time. There are now more than 250 storks in enclosures in Skåne. In addition to pairs that are mature for breeding being released each year, young birds are released to accompany the wild birds on their journey south in the autumn. Therefore, quite a few birds are released each year.

Flock of white storks outside Hemmestorp's Mölla Storkhägn

Occasionally the flock takes off and the sky fills with dozens of storks.

The Stork Project is holding several events to create interest in the work of reintroducing the white stork in Skåne. Among other things, you can join the "Stork Viewing Day in Fulltofta" at the end of April, where you can see nesting storks up close. You can see the baby birds in the nests in mid-May and participate in their ringing in early June. At the end of July, you can join the "Stork Release at Hemmestorps Mölla" where this year's birds are released.

The white stork is mostly silent, but it can occasionally make some hoarse sounds

Before the young birds are released, they have been allowed to try out their wings for a period of time in a slightly larger enclosure where there is more room to move. But it is only at the stork release that they really get their wings. It is an experience to see how they carefully try their way around, before they eventually take off and fly a short circle over the farm.

The five permanent enclosures in the Stork Project are: Flyinge, Fulltofta, Hemmestorps Mölla, Karups Nygård and Stänkelösa. You are welcome to visit three of these:

• Fulltofta,

• Karups Nygård

• Hemmestorps Mölla.

  
  

Although there are most birds in the summer and autumn, you can see storks all year round. In addition to the birds in the enclosures, there are some storks that stays in the farm even during the winter and are fed there. These birds are not considered wild, since they do not participate in the migration south. But they are of course just as beautiful to look at for us who visit them.

 The white stork is a large and beautiful bird. It grows to about 1 meter tall, weighs between 2.3 and 4.4 kg and has a wingspan of about 155-165 cm.

The decline in the stork population in Skåne started with a natural disaster, but the reason for the population becoming extinct is human-made changes. By building dikes and draining large wetland areas, the storks were deprived of their habitat. By making agriculture more efficient and using chemicals, the ecosystem that the storks depend on to find food was destroyed. By setting up high-voltage power lines, birds that have good lateral vision, but do not see straight ahead, were exposed to death traps. By changing the Earth's climate, abnormally strong drought periods occurred in the areas where the storks overwintered in winter.

Reintroduction efforts are important, but to restore a viable wild population of white storks in Skåne, it will also be necessary to address the factors that make it difficult for storks to survive. For example, it is important to restore wetlands, reduce the use of pesticides, and bury or mark high-voltage power lines. Reintroduction of extinct species and nature restoration are linked.

All the birds in the project are ringed so that their movements and lives can be followed. In Western Europe, storks have been extinct in many countries, but in Eastern Europe there has always been a viable population. This is partly because there are still large untouched wetland areas there, and that agriculture has not gone through the same efficiency processes, but also because these birds have migrated to East and Southern Africa where the problems with drought have been less pronounced than in West Africa where birds from Western Europe have traditionally migrated to in the winter. Now it is hoped that the reintroduced population of storks in Skåne will learn to choose the eastern route.

More projects and excursions: www.turideer.com

More information about the project and the places you can visit: www.storkprojektet.se

If you would like to contact the project, you can send an email to: info@storkprojektet.se or call +46709980225. It is possible to book a guided tour.

#Sweden #NatureRestoration #English #Stork #Reintroducing #Skåne