Knepp On Knepping On...

White Storks.

A post that is definitely going there. 🙂

Everyone knows what is going on with White Storks in Ireland. 

Everyone.

And everyone is doing their best Manuel from Fawlty Towers impression. 🤣

"I know nothing!"

White Stork is a mega species in Ireland. Or at least it was. Twitchable birds were historically, very few and far between (maybe the Cloyne east Cork bird most well known and reliable?) with most records referring to fly overs or obscure reports with no follow up.

I thought it would be a good idea to visualize things however. It's important to SEE the extent of change involved here.

White Stork - all reports from between 2009 and to date (27.05.2026). 

Some dudes be like...

To the left of this chart, some reports may refer to escaped birds from places like Tayto park in Meath. 

Some birds seem to have been colour ringed of unknown origin, and some will relate to reports by "civilians" and never confirmed.

Some birds to the right of the chart, in that ridiculous spike, may of course be some duplication between sites (though I have endeavoured to eliminate that where possible).

Nonetheless...the alteration in occurrence pattern is stark. A decade of dribs and drabs, already influenced by escapes and potential escapes suddenly explodes after the re-introduction projects in the UK take off. 

White Stork is now utterly polluted in an Irish context, all down to projects many consider to be ill conceived and for a species with authorities in the UK have recently decided on as being non-native or at the very least, not proven to ever have been native.

Irish birders seem very, very quiet on the issue, with the vast majority of listers seemingly having run for available birds in 2025 and maintaining silence as we enter year two of appreciable numbers popping up (2026 will undoubtedly produce more records than the 17 listed currently).

Furthermore, you will see talk out there that all White Stork in North Western Europe are somewhat dodgy, stemming from populations that never became truly self sustaining or re-enegaged with traditional migratory strategies.

So how should White Stork be approached from here on out?

I have always been liberal when it comes to such things.

In the past we would hear things like the "3rd generation rule" or "it must become a self sustaining population" to be "Tickable". (Plenty often paid lip service to these concepts or claimed to follow them but ticked plenty a dodgy bird...the tick hungry whores! 🤣)

For me, once it's clear a species has taken hold and barring any eradication is carried out, then a species simply becomes part of the natural landscape and probably should be given no more thought.

Since moving to Finland, seeing Canada Goose being established and migratory, it's become a no brainer that you just "count" Canada on your list, and hand wringing over whether a "genuine" bird would show up is a waste of energy.

People will of course quibble over what constitutes "taken hold" or self sustaining (Pheasants anyone?) etc etc. 

But on a personal level, I don't think it's worth worrying about.

The only thing that should be abandoned, however, is the thinking of the "My list is pure and everything accepted by such and such a rarity committee" types. 

Their standing is gone. And their lists are as plastic fantastic as anyone else's. 🤣

Otherwise...Knepp on Knepping on  🤣 Tuuuune!