Get to know us

Our story

Yan Swiderski started trying to breed White Storks at Hamatethy in early 2021. He was soon getting questions from other landowners and conservationists in Cornwall: could they come and see the Storks?, could they get birds as well?, what is the plan? could they help? It soon became clear that there was great interest in a bigger reintroduction programme in Cornwall. We decided to set up The Cornwall Stork Project, a registered charity with the objective of establishing a wild breeding population of White Storks in Cornwall and beyond.

We are often asked, what is the ecological function of Storks? Our answer is: to engage humans with nature. This is a critical function. If we can motivate more people to learn about nature and ecosystems they may take an interest in improving habitats for birds and other creatures. Storks are not a keystone species but rather a flagship species, because they are beautiful charismatic birds which are highly visible for miles around. Their return is a symbol of nature recovery which can stimulate further engagement and action. Storks will normally return to their exact birthplace to breed, so once Britain’s native population was lost (some four to six hundred years ago) there were no birds coming back here to breed.

This was our first chick born in April 2024. The first White Stork hatched on Bodmin Moor for many centuries

Our Plans

Our reintroduction effort depends on having native-born chicks that will imprint on their birthplace and eventually return here to Cornwall and breed. The plan is to breed captive birds at several locations in Cornwall and once we have fledged around 20 birds we will start releasing them and continue to do so for several years. The critical thing at this stage is to build up the numbers, so we are making every effort to source breeding age birds and accelerate our progress. We will continue to feed ‘wild’ birds at the release sites in order to support their establishment.

We are working with several project partners: Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Paradise Park Zoo and The Screech Owl Sanctuary. Our partners are helping with fundraising, advice and also hand-rearing of some chicks. We still need to raise funds to obtain more birds. We have identified two more sites in Cornwall where the landowners will build aviaries if we can supply the birds. If things go well we may be able to do our first release next year.

You can help with our project by donating to fund the expense of obtaining more birds. We do not spend money on employing people and rely on the voluntary work of trustees and other volunteers so you can be sure that your money will go to obtaining more birds and feeding them.

If you want to know more or would like to help in any way please do get in touch.