{"id":383737,"date":"2026-01-22T07:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/383737\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T07:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:24:10","slug":"animal-that-vanished-from-britain-600-years-ago-spotted-in-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/383737\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal that vanished from Britain 600 years ago spotted in Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts believe the bird could be home-grown in the UK\"White<\/p>\n

(Image: Andrew Fusek\u2010Peters)<\/p>\n

Bird-lovers were shocked when a species of bird that vanished from the British countryside 600-years-ago was spotted in Wales. The towering 3ft rare white stork was caught on camera by wildlife photographer Andrew Fusek\u2010Peters as it tucked into “a good munch” of grubs beside a busy A-road.<\/p>\n

The species, once a familiar sight across England and Wales in the 1400s, made its comeback in 2020 after a major rewilding effort. The bird captured on camera near Oswestry on the border of England and Wales last Friday, January 16 could be one of the first wild-born British storks in centuries.<\/p>\n

Andrew, 60, from Lydbury North, Shropshire said: “It’s a white stork, for 600 years we haven’t had storks. Then in 2020, thanks to the rewilding scheme on the Knepp Estate in Horsham, they’ve been reintroduced.<\/p>\n

“This time of year it shouldn’t even be anywhere near Oswestry, it should be soaking up the sun in Africa.”<\/p>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

White stork (Image: Andrew Fusek\u2010Peters)<\/p>\n

With no ring on its leg, experts believe it could be a genuine home\u2010grown chick.<\/p>\n

Andrew added: “It’s a juvenile, and one theory is all of the storks that were breeding in the south have gone off to other areas.<\/p>\n

“It could be the result of one of those, so it could be one of the first British storks to be born in the wild in this part of the country.<\/p>\n

“What’s rare about it is that it should be in Africa in the warm. It could be one of our first British storks born truly in the wild, it didn’t have a ring on it.”<\/p>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

White stork with a cow(Image: Andrew Fusek\u2010Peters)<\/p>\n

The giant bird caused a flutter among local wildlife fans after word spread online.<\/p>\n

Andrew added: “There are birding groups and they post maps and advice, so you get to know where the rare things are. Someone mentioned there was a stork in the area.<\/p>\n

“It’s a bonkers thing to see. You can see it juggling a few grubs in one shot, it’s just having a good munch. It’s a main road coming out of a village near Oswestry, so it was dangerous. I nearly fell into the path of a truck.”<\/p>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

White stork (Image: Andrew Fusek\u2010Peters)<\/p>\n

Native to the British Isles, the birds – which build huge nests in tall trees and towers – are often believed to symbolise rebirth.<\/p>\n

Storks were reportedly the centre of attention in medieval banquets and are famously found in folklore carrying new born babies to their parent’s in a swaddle hung from their beaks.<\/p>\n

The last known breeding nest of storks in the UK, however, was recorded as being in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1416.<\/p>\n

The White Stork Project – a partnership between private landowners and nature conservation charities – aims to restore a population of at least 250 storks to the south of England by the year 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Experts believe the bird could be home-grown in the UK (Image: Andrew Fusek\u2010Peters) Bird-lovers were shocked when a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-383737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}