Migration map

Below is a beta version of an App for visualising the White Stork flights. It is currently designed for viewing on laptops/tablets -we’re working on a mobile version.

How to use the map:

• Left click and drag the map to tilt and rotate it so that you can see the heights that the Storks were flying at. Right click and drag to move the map around the page. Use the mouse wheel/drag two fingers forwards and backwards on the mouse pad to zoom in/out of the maps.

• Click the Play button at the top of the left panel to visualise all stork flights over time.

• Click on the date/time at the top of the left panel to pause/restart the flights, and click to return the start. To select individual birds, make sure the date/time has returned to the start, and then select/de-select birds using the selection boxes to the left of each bird’s tag/name.

• Click on the map in the bottom right to view the flights over a map instead of the satellite image. Click the satellite image again to return to the satellite view.

Please do give us any feedback so that we can improve our map: Contact Us — White Stork Project At the moment, we only have storks displayed from this year, but we will be adding more storks and more information over time.

GBA5

GBA5 is a male, fledged in July 2023 from the first ever nest built at Knepp in a large oak tree near to the stork pen. Early in the season, GBA5 had to contend with regular visits from a noisy male turtle dove calling from a branch that overlooks the nest as well as a greater spotted woodpecker who continues to visit the tree. GBA5 shared the nest with another male chick who successfully fledged (his brother, GBA6, was not tagged).

The nest was observed regularly throughout the season by White Stork Project volunteers and the juveniles were ringed on the 12th June 2023, both of them weighing in healthily at just over 4kg.

GBA5’s parents are both Polish storks, arriving at Knepp in 2018. The male is known as GB5F, and the female is GB87. They built this nest back in 2019 but did not successfully rear chicks until 2022 when two juveniles fledged from their nest. In 2023, eggs were observed in the nest by drone footage at the end of March, and chicks were observed at the end of April.

GBA5 was seen flying away from the nest at the start of July on a sunny morning, leaving with his brother. Their flight was caught on phone camera (shown in the short video below), though judging by the strength of their flight, it is likely that this was not their first ever venture away from the nest. Both young storks returned to their nest by the afternoon and for the nest few days were seen leaving and returning to the nest as parents continued to regurgitate food for them.

At the start of August GBA5 was seen foraging in the long grass and amongst the scrub at Knepp, successfully catching various insects, before venturing over to the west above Portsmouth where he was seen forging in fields. In September, along with around ten other storks, GBA5 flew over to Kent and spent some time around the Sandwich area, foraging on recently ploughed farmland. The storks were likely to be eating earthworms and other invertebrates. A handful of sightings followed as the storks moved around the area, making use of the food source.

In September, GBA5 (as well as some other satellite tagged and untagged storks) flew partly over the channel at Dover but soon turned back. It is likely that conditions were not right and although the young birds were experiencing the drive to migrate, the wind and air temperatures meant they faced too much of a challenge and they turned around, returning to the south coast.

In mid-October 2023, GBA5 made an unusual migration crossing from Selsey at a fairly wide section of channel over into France. It is likely that he was with other storks as they made this crossing.

 GBA9

GBA9 is a male fledged from the second nest ever build at Knepp. GBA9 fledged alongside two other nest mates: two females GBA7 and GBA8.

The parent birds of GBA9 are a male from Poland and a female from France. They were seen regurgitating on the 22nd April in 2023 meaning at least one of the chicks had hatched at this point, though they were not actually observed for another couple of weeks.

Interestingly GBA9 chose not to migrate in his first year. Along with some other storks including GBA5 above, GBA9 attempted to migrate in autumn and flew part of the way over the channel, leaving at Dover, after spending some weeks foraging in Kent.  However it is likely that the strong winds and low temperatures at the time encouraged the birds to turn back.

Throughout his first autumn and winter, GBA9 was seen foraging regularly at Knepp as well as on the Wadhurst Estate. He travelled as far west as Havant, and all the way over to Ramsgate in Kent. He was most regularly seen foraging with small groups of storks.

GBC6 and GBC7 are two storks who became very well known by the White Stork volunteer team at Knepp and their progress was recorded closely. This was because they hatched in the first ever ground nest built at Knepp.

The parent birds built an impressive nest on the ground as they are both rehabilitated birds from Poland who cannot fly due to their previous injuries. The father, GB56 arrived at Knepp in 2018 and the mother, GB05 arrived in 2016. Neither had bred before, until 2023 when they built a huge nest at the base of a tree in the woodland within the stork pen.

Since hatching, the two chicks were closely monitored as the team were able to set up a camera trap to observe them. The team also supplementary fed the two chicks with chopped up fish. This was to ensure they were getting enough food, as the parents were not able to forage outside of the pen. Although this monitoring was only for a very brief period each day, it allowed the team to get to know the chicks well discover their personalities. The female (GBC7) was very wary of human interactions and consistently played dead as soon as she could see the visitors and would remain lying down until they were left alone. The male (GBC6) on the other hand, was extremely confident and vocal and would stand up and snatch up the food hastily,

Both these chicks were satellite tagged on the 7th July 2023 and they fledged soon after this on the same day as each other.

There were some questions about how the young would behave and whether they would migrate given that their parents were not able to do this. To the excitement of everyone following their story, both of these young birds migrated across the channel after a couple of months of exploring the south coast and reports have come in via the website sighting both of these birds foraging with a small group of storks in France.