The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is making the finishing touches to stork enclosures at Willington Wetlands, a project aimed at welcoming breeding white storks to the area for the first time in over 600 years. The predator-proof enclosures, valued at £300,000, have been developed in partnership with Celtic Rewilding, specialists in captive breeding facilities. Once completed, the site will be home to a first pair of nesting white storks since the 14th Century.
The trust believes that having a nesting pair at the nature reserve will create a 'social magnet' to encourage passing storks to 'stop, settle, and breed'. This carefully managed approach will also involve soft releases of the birds into the wider landscape. Volunteers will monitor the site daily to check the welfare of the storks once they arrive this summer.
The reintroduction of white storks to Willington Wetlands forms part of a broader conservation effort in the area. Beavers were reintroduced to the site in 2021, resulting in the birth of two beaver kits in the county for the first time since the 13th Century. Other notable sightings have included Britain's loudest bird, the bittern, and Britain's smallest rodent, the harvest mouse, both recorded at the site for the first time in 2024.