Danish White Storks in south-west England

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1 Danish White Storks in south-west England /. B. Bottomley Plates i-) On hearing that two White Storks Ciconia ciconia had been seen at Newlyn, Cornwall, my wife and I went there on the morning of 17th September 1971 to try to photograph them. The day was sunny, warm and calm and we found the storks immatures, showing blackish tips to their bills and pale pinkish legs standing on the chimney stack of a house near the harbour. We were able to watch them for about two hours and take a series of photographs (plates 1-3); they only occasionally left their vantage point, and their visits to other chimneys and roofs were very brief. They did, however, make two long and apparently aimless soaring flights in a north-easterly direction towards Penzance, during which they rose to an estimated 200 metres or more. Once they were mobbed persistently by a Rook Corpus frugikgus (plate 2b), and as they took off and landed hundreds of Herring Gulls Larus argentatus feeding and resting in the harbour erupted into the air in apparent alarm. In addition, we twice watched an adult Herring Gull 'dive-bomb' the storks as they stood on the chimney stack (plate 1). During these attacks the gull called repeatedly and the storks retaliated by jabbing somewhat half-heartedly at the attacker with their bills. Each stork carried a ring on its right leg, and through a telescope we and others among the many observers who had come to see the birds were able to read the name of the ringing authority (Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark) and the ring numbers (13 51 and 1352). Subsequent enquiries revealed that they had been ringed, with one other (number ), as a late brood at Frostrup, North Jutland, where they fledged at hours on 6th September On 9th September three White Storks were observed at Combe Down, Bath, Somerset. On the same day they moved to Downside School, some 15 km to the south-west, where one of them fell down a large chimney and was taken into captivity: this was the one number ringed The other two moved on, being seen nearby at Nettlebridge, and then on the afternoon of 10th what were obviously the same two reached Bude, Cornwall, 150 km WSW, where the figures were seen on one of the rings. Two White Storks appeared briefly at St Issey some 42 km away near the Camel estuary from to hours on 1 ith, and these were presumably the same birds, but otherwise they apparently remained continuously at Bude until hours on 12th and during their stay were subjected to some harassment by Herring Gulls. Next 4

2 Danish White Storks in south-west England 5 there is a record on 12th and 13 th of two ringed White Storks another 160 km to the south-west on St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, followed at hours on 15th by a further sighting of two, again ringed, in the Hayle estuary, Cornwall (if this was the same couple, as was almost certainly the case, they had now turned back eastwards). Still on 15 th, in the evening, two White Storks were noted on a tall modern office block in Penzance, 9 km south-west of the Hayle estuary, and on the following day they moved to Newlyn, 2 km further on in the same direction. It was there, on 17th, that my wife and I made the observations described earlier. The birds left Newlyn at about hours on 18th (another fine warm day), soaring off in a south-westerly direction. There is a further record of their being seen again briefly on St Mary's about an hour later. Finally, the stork carrying ring number 1352 was later found 'in a bad condition' in Madeira, about 2,000 km SSW of the Isles of Scilly, this information being given in a telegram from Funchal datelined 21st September. An interesting footnote has been supplied by Robert Hudson of the British Trust for Ornithology concerning the history in Denmark of the parents of these three White Storks. The female was found some years ago with a broken wing and has never been able to fly since. The farmer who found her provided an artificial nest-site in the form of a cartwheel on a pole and added a ladder for the handicapped bird's use. Then about four years ago she was joined by a male and they have remained paired ever since. The female obviously cannot migrate and the male has remained with her, the two spending each winter in a barn provided by the farmer who occasionally liberates the male for exercise; the latter always returns to his mate in the barn. They have nested every year since pairing, the female using the ladder provided. In 1970 the young were stolen from the nest and then killed in an attempt to destroy the evidence; the thieves were subsequently convicted and the event created a nationwide scandal in Denmark at the time. It was reported that when the three fledglings left on migration in September 1971 the direction they took was approximately 90 0 to the west of that normally followed by Danish White Storks, which head south-east to the Bosphorus. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It would not have been possible to document the remarkable travels of these young White Storks without information provided by a number of individuals, in particular R. W. Bullock, R. M. Curber, Robert Hudson, David Hunt, J. H. Johns, Bernard King, Mrs F. E. Lott, N. J. Phillips, N. O. Preuss (of the Copenhagen Museum), R. Singer and F. R. Smith, and this valuable help I gratefully acknowledge. /. B. Bottomley, Hellesveor Place, St Ives, Cornwall

3 PLATE I. TWO juvenile White Storks Ciconia ciconia on chimney stack being mobbed by Herring Gull Icarus argentatus, Cornwall, September During these attacks the gull called repeatedly and the storks retaliated by jabbing towards it somewhat half-heartedly with their bills (pages 4-5) {photo: J. B. and S. Bottomley)

4 PLATES 2 and 3. The same White Storks Ciconia riconia flying (and mobbed by Rook Corpus jrugilegus), perched and preening. Each carried a ring (visible in these flight shots): the numbers, read through telescopes, showed that they had left a nest in Denmark only a few days before (page 4) {photos: J. B. and S. Bottomley)

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