But two of the flight-ready chicks did not reach far away from the nest.
They died in an open slurry tank not far from the stork nest in Smedager in Southern Jutland.
– It’s pointless because it could have been avoided. There must be tight floating layers on open slurry tanks so that storks cannot pull through, says stork expert Hans Skov, Danish Ornithological Case (DOF).
Some of the stork cubs are marked with GPS transmitters, and therefore the drowned cubs were found in the slurry tank.
The two were probably hunting for insects in the surface of the slurry tank.
Based on the incident, the stork group in DOF and the association Storkene will now work to make slurry tanks in the neighborhood for stork nests safer for the long-legged flier.
– We will take a dialogue with farmers in the neighborhood for stork nests, so we ensure that it does not happen again, says Hans Skov.
There is not necessarily anything to blame the farmers, he emphasizes.
– There have been heavy rain showers throughout the summer, which may have pushed the floating layer.
– But we will work to ensure that the open slurry tanks are better monitored, and perhaps also secure them with nets, at least during the stork’s breeding season, says Hans Skov.
That said, there is reason for optimism on behalf of the stork, he believes.
– There are new couples in Southern Jutland – by Rens and Broderup – who got kids on the wings. It bodes well for the future with two new couples who are so productive, he says.
From the GPS marking you can see that some of the kids are still staying in Denmark, while others have moved south and are now in Germany and Belgium.
A single has also reached Romania.
– We have storks on both trekking routes, both the eastbound and the westbound. And if they survive, they will return and settle in the hometown area, says Hans Skov.
He predicts that the population of storks in Denmark will grow in the coming years.
– There is dynamism in the population in Denmark, and it will definitely go up, and we will see more pairs of storks throughout the country, predicts Hans Skov.