Storks in Normandy

A month ago I went to visit my family back in Normandy and one afternoon, with my parents, we went to visit some of the White Stork nests that they know of in the Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin. Out of the 4 nests we checked, 3 had young in them but the fourth one, high up in a tree, had been partially destroyed.

We had some nice views of an adult looking for food in a field.

The first nest we saw, with 2 young in it, probably belonged to the adult above.

Second nest:

If you look closely at the young's leg, you'll notice it is wearing a colour ring.
If you look at the leaves, you'll also notice that it was really windy...

By the time, we got to the next nest, conditions were pretty dire and birds were barely visible. Quite an impressive nest though!

(click on any photo for a bigger version or to get you to the set which has a few more photos).
I chose and processed the photos while on the ferry back to the UK, but within a few days drama at the peregrines nest grabbed all my attention and I am now finally slowly catching up.
White storks are a bird I remember going to see in Alsace as a kid in 1976 during a family holiday, as the reintroduction programme was starting. It even was one of my younger brother's first words :) I never imagined then that they'd settle within an hour's drive of my parents.