BBC News reports the reintroduction of red kites to an area of outstanding natural beauty 30 years ago has been a “true conservation success story”, an expert has said. Numbers of kites had declined over a 200-year period and by the 1980s they were one of only three globally-threatened species in the UK.

Thirteen young birds were brought over from Spain and released in the Chiltern Hills in July 1990.They are now “thriving”, with an estimated 1,800 UK breeding pairs.

Photo by Noel Reynolds under creative commons.

Sky News reports the first wild white stork chicks have hatched in the UK for what is believed to be hundreds of years. The White Stork Project has been closely monitoring three nests at the Knepp estate in West Sussex. After a 33-day wait, six eggs hatched in two of the nests. It is believed the parents of the first hatchlings are the same pair that attempted to nest at Knepp last year, when their eggs failed to hatch. The parents have been seen incubating and regurgitating food for their offspring. White Stork Project officer Lucy Groves said it was a “nervous wait” after last year’s failed attempt. The last storks that were recorded breeding successfully in the wild nested on St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1416. The White Stork Project at Knepp aims to restore a population of at least 50 breeding pairs across the south of England by 2030.