Hopes storks may nest in the capital after soaring numbers of sightings

A CONSULTATION has been launched on the potential return of white storks to London, as part of a project to see if the “talismanic” birds could make a home in the capital.

- EMILY BEAMENT

Long-vanished white storks have been reintroduced in southern England, leading to an “explosion” in sightings across Greater London in recent years - as well as in the West-country.

Now conservationists are looking at whether the metre-tall birds, which are known to thrive in urban settings on the continent, could do the same in London. Community-focused urban rewilding organisation Citizen Zoo is conducting an appraisal on making London a “white stork-friendly city”, including habitat mapping, reaching out to boroughs across the capital to gauge their response and surveying the public about the birds.