IN THE WILD

COMMUNITY SPIRIT Lake Alaotra in Madagascar is under increasing pressure from the 100,000 people who live around its shores. Although it is home to several threatened species, the marshes surrounding the lake are being cleared at an alarming rate to make way for rice fields. Our team have been working with local communities to restore the lake and protect the unique wildlife that lives there. Over the past year, 27 hectares of marsh were successfully planted, and 4.5km of channels have been cleared of the damaging invasive plant, water hyacinth. The team have provided training to local people to transform the removed hyacinth into organic fertiliser and woven baskets to benefit the community. The success of these restoration efforts will ensure the long-term protection of this unique ecosystem for the benefit of both the wildlife and people who depend on it.

JERSEY’S CHOUGHS SOAR TO NEW HEIGHTS The choughs have been spreading their wings across Jersey with a record number of successful nesting attempts in 2019. A total of 16 ‘choughlets’ (fledged chicks) were recorded throughout the year, one of which came from the picturesque coastline of Plémont several kilometres from the release site. Since their reintroduction to the island in 2013, the Jersey chough population has been steadily growing as a result of the team’s close monitoring and care, combined with successful breeding in the wild.

For more information on the project, visit www.birdsontheedge.org

HISTORIC SUCCESS FOR WHITE STORKS Last summer, 24 young white storks that were hatched and raised at Cotswold Wildlife Park were released at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, to boost the population in the wild. Since then, the team have been keeping track of the birds through reported sightings and GPS tags attached to eight of them.

A month after they were released, one individual called Marge crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, becoming the first British-bred juvenile to successfully migrate to Africa. Out of the 24 released storks, she also managed to travel the furthest, spending most of the winter in Morocco. Many of the other young storks spent the end of last summer entertaining holidaymakers in Cornwall before flying south and spending time around landfill sites in Spain.

Meanwhile, back at Knepp, volunteers were busy constructing huge artificial nests to encourage some of the resident storks to breed. The team eagerly awaited the arrival of storks back in the UK ready for this year's breeding season.

In early spring, a pair of white storks were seen building a nest in an old oak tree at Knepp. Project Officer for Durrell, Lucy Groves, confirmed there were five eggs in the nest. In the following weeks, she watched in anticipation as the white stork pair carefully incubated the eggs. Eventually, Lucy managed to glimpse eggshell being removed from the nest, and the parents were seen regurgitating food for the chicks to eat. They had managed to successfully hatch chicks!

This is a significant landmark for the project as it is the first time storks have known to successfully breed in the wild in the UK for hundreds of years. Before this, the last known breeding pair was recorded in 1416 on St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. Since then, storks have been a rare vagrant to the UK, with 20 or so visiting each year.

“After waiting 33 days for these eggs to hatch, it was extremely exciting to see signs that the first egg had hatched on 6th May,” says Lucy. “The parents have been working hard and are doing a fantastic job, especially after their failed attempt last year. It is incredible to have the UK’s first white stork chicks to hatch in the wild for hundreds of years here at Knepp.”

Two weeks after the first white storks hatched, it was confirmed that a second nest had also managed to successfully hatch three chicks.

This news is an exciting development for the White Stork Project. This pioneering partnership of private landowners and nature conservation charities aims to restore a population of approximately 50 breeding pairs in southern England by 2030.

KNEPP ESTATE

RABAT, MOROCCO