Rare bird in Sussex named one of the best wildlife wonders you can see in Britain

This rare bird has been named one of the best natural wonders you can see in the country… and it can be spotted in Sussex.

The Telegraph has revealed its picks of the 20 British wildlife wonders you must see in your lifetime.

From starling murmurations to bluebell woodlands and swallowtail butterflies, there is plenty to enjoy.

Each of the wildlife hotspots chosen has different attractions around the year, and one named was in Sussex.

White storks can be seen at the Knepp Rewilding Estate in Sussex (Image: Charlie Burrell/Knepp/PA Wire)

Best wildlife wonders to see across Britain

Here are some of the best wildlife wonders to spot in each country in Britain, according to The Telegraph, and where you can see them.

England

Otters – Leighton Moss and Morecambe Bay

Puffins (and other seabirds) – Farne Islands

Bitterns and warblers – Minsmere

Snake’s-head fritillary – Cricklade

Storks – Knepp Estate

Sharks – Cornwall

Lowland heath – New Forest

Starlings – Somerset Levels

Swallowtails – Norfolk Broads

Scotland

Eagles – Mull

Dolphins – Moray Firth

Pine martens and beavers – Scottish Highlands

Machair grasslands – Outer Hebrides

Orcas – Orkney

Wales

Manx shearwater – Skomer Island

Bluebells and spring blooms – Mid Wales

Kites – Powys

Northern Ireland

Red squirrels Tollymore – Forest Park

Guillemots and kittiwakes – Giant’s Causeway

Geese (and marine mammals) – Strangford Lough

Rare bird in Sussex among Britain’s best ‘wildlife wonders’

Making the list was the rare Stork, which can be seen in West Sussex.

“The courtship beak-clatter of white storks now resounds over the English countryside for the first time since the 1400s, courtesy of Knepp Estate’s pioneering rewilding programme”, the Telegraph notes.

Isabella Tree owns Knepp with her husband Charlie Burrell, with the couple halting conventional farming on their estate in 2000 and embarking on “rewilding” the estate.

This has involved restoring natural processes using animals including longhorn cattle, red and fallow deer, Exmoor ponies and pigs, whose grazing and foraging have helped create a mosaic of scrub, disturbed ground, grassland and wood pasture which provides habitat for a wealth of species.

There is also woodland, the river has been “rewiggled” to a more natural state, and beavers in an enclosure have turned a small stream into wetlands.

A post shared by Knepp Wildland Foundation (@kneppwildlandfdn)

In 2010, the Knepp Wildland project received Higher Level Stewardship funding and is now a leading light in the conservation movement.

It has been visited by numerous conservation organisations, including the RSPB, Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust, as well as policy makers, farmers and landowners.

The project has also seen a reintroduction project, which has brought white storks back to the landscape.

There is significant evidence to show that white storks were once a breeding bird in Britain, with an archaeological record stretching back 360,000 years, the Knepp website explains.

About 20 migrant white storks are spotted in England every year, but their unique breeding requirements mean that an active process of reintroduction was needed to re-establish them here.

The first successful breeding attempts happened in 2020, with 14 young successfully fledged from the nests and joined the free-flying birds.

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