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Cotswold Wildlife Park Ringing DayPreparing Cotswold Wildlife Park storks – 2025
Each summer, the White Stork Project team returns to Cotswold Wildlife Park for a busy day of stork ringing. As a key partner in the project, Cotswold Wildlife Park has supported the White Stork Project through expert guidance and successfully breeding previously injured, rehabilitated storks, originally from Warsaw Zoo. These birds are bred for release into the wild to boost the project’s population, supporting the establishment of a more robust colony and encouraging migratory behaviours.
CWP-bred storks have gone on to play a critical role in the establishment of a free-flying white stork population in the UK so far. In fact, of the six birds we confirmed to have returned from migration this year, three have successfully bred, each one originally hatched at CWP and released at Knepp. These birds and their journeys are identifiable thanks to the rings they receive under a British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) license. This year, CWP have reared over 50 chicks, many of which are set to be released into the wild in August this year, so it was a mammoth task to process them all!
What happens on ringing day?
Ringing day is an important step in preparing these originally captive storks for life in the wild. Each young bird undergoes a series of checks and measurements, designed to assess their health and gather essential data. Here’s what the process looks like:
- The birds are rounded up from their enclosure.
- A small blood sample is taken to determine their sex through genetic analysis.
- Health checks are performed by the veterinary team.
- Each stork receives a unique metal BTO ring (on the right ankle) and a coloured Darvic ring (on the upper left leg) for easy identification in the field. This is carried out by licensed and trained ringers.
- Key biometrics are recorded, including wingspan, weight, tarsus length, and beak length.
- Some birds are fitted with lightweight GPS satellite tags, which allow us to track their migratory journeys in real time.
This year, ten young storks were tagged with GPS devices, helping us gain a better understanding of their behaviour and movements as they explore western Europe, all the way through to north Africa on their migration. As per the last couple of years, we are going to show all the data from the satellite tags on the website and are working with the fantastic team at ACE Nature to develop the live maps from 2025. The tags will be live on the map for as long as they continue to transmit.
Once the ringing and data collection are complete, the birds are returned to their pen to rest before their upcoming release. They are closely monitored by the team at CWP until they are ready to be collected for their release.
A new release site
Thanks to the success of the wild breeding at Knepp, where 45 wild storks hav fledged this year, there will be no release of CWP- reared birds there in 2025.
Instead, the young storks from CWP will be released at our sister site in Wadhurst, East Sussex, where this population boost is welcomed and expansion is key to support the establishement of a successful white stork population in the south of England.
As always, we are immensely grateful to the team at Cotswold Wildlife Park for their support, dedication, and care for the birds. Their contribution remains vital to the future of white storks in the UK. We’re also grateful for the expertise and advice of other project board members who helped us on the day including Dr. Tim Mackrill of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, Ecologist and bird ringer, Penny Green, and Professor Aldina Franco from University of East Anglia.
Stay tuned as these young birds take flight in the coming weeks, we are looking forward to following their journeys.
