Wild white storks born in UK for first time in hundreds of years: UK media

White storks have hatched in Britain for the first time in about 600 years, according to the Evening Standard newspaper.

The five chicks were born from one of three nests in the Knepp Estate in West Sussex on Friday. Onlookers watched as the parents regurgitated food to feed the chicks in their nest on an oak tree, said the London-based newspaper.

The same pair also tried to breed last year at the Knepp Estate, but without success, the newspaper said.

The white stork is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average 100-115 cm from beak tip to end of tail, with a 155-215 cm wingspan.

There is evidence that storks have been breeding in Britain for around 360,000 years, said the newspaper.

But the White Stork Project, which aims to reintroduce a wild stork population to Britain, said that the most recent record of storks breeding in the country was 1416 in St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, said the Evening Standard.

Lucy Groves, project officer for the White Stork Project, described the news as "incredible".

"These are early days for the chicks, and we will be monitoring them closely, but we have great hopes for them," she was quoted as saying.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)