White storks could soon be soaring over London again following the successful reintroduction of the birds to southern England. 

Storks were once common in the UK, but hunting and habitat loss led to their extinction in the 15th century. In 2016, however, the birds were reintroduced to Sussex, where they have established a foothold thanks to efforts to restore their wetland habitat. 

Now, Citizen Zoo, a charity, is looking to reintroduce them to Greater London, where wetlands have also been restored. The city’s lofty buildings could provide ideal nesting sites for the birds, which famously live atop structures in Marrakech, Morocco. 

“We know we have habitat here, and there’s a lot of wetland restoration occurring across Greater London,” Elliot Newton, co-founder of Citizen Zoo, told the Guardian. “How amazing would it be if white storks nested in St James’s Park, beside Buckingham Palace, as a symbol of ecological recovery in the capital?”

Image: David Dixon