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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Patrick Barkham

REVEALED: White storks to make historic return to london in 2026 | Rare Historical Photos

white storks on a nest on top of a tree
White stork chicks hatched successfully for the first time at the rewilding Knepp estate in West Sussex in 2020. Photograph: RA Chalmers Photography/Alamy

Above the roar of traffic, the rumble of the tube and the juddering construction noise of a towering new datacentre in Dagenham, east London, will soon rise a beautiful and unlikely melody: the bill-clattering of white storks.

The birds will next year make a historic return to the UK capital as part of an ambitious rewilding effort to bring charismatic nature into busy city communities.

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