A new storks’ nest.

We co-sponsor a storks’ nest across the road. Before we bought the house, the previous owners cut a tree from the forest for the nest. Last January the pole snapped in a storm. The owners of the meadow started looking for a new ‘set-up’ and we offered to use a tree that had to come down anyway. But dead (pine) tree wood is too ‘brittle’ to act as storks’ pole. The nest itself is heavy and it has survive winter storms!

The answer: bird-watching volunteers stepped in and offered to put up a completely new nest. This afternoon they came with a complete nest, including a new ‘wheel’ for the nest platform. They started ‘weaving’ a basket-like edge from willow branches. Over the last few days had collected willow branches from all corners of the hamlet. The idea is to scatter these branches and twigs across the meadow. Storks will ‘get the message’ according to the bird watching volunteers.

We put up the pole with some elbow grease. Note that these volunteers dug a hole and a trench to make it easier to put it all up. A nice job for a Saturday afternoon.

Stork couples, like swans, stay together. But they don’t fly together. Over the years, we noticed that one stork lands on the nest and it can take between 7 – 10 days before the second stork lands. Normally the storks return in the first or second week of February. But, with the nest down at that time we don’t know what will happen next. We did notice a ‘flock’ of storks flying over the nest the moment is was put up and ‘ready for action’.

Let’s see how long it takes before it’s occupied again.

A few pics, but I had to adjust them. I don’t want to post people’s faces on the internet