Where has the stork’s nest at the Deurzerdiep in Deurze gone? Several visitors to the Drenthe Aa area have wondered this in recent days. During the breeding season, the nest with stork chicks is often photographed by passers-by.
But now the tall wooden pole on which the nest stood has disappeared. Local residents were a bit surprised about this. “I was walking and suddenly saw that he was gone,” said Marijke Grotenhuis. She could see the pole from her living room. “The next day people came to our yard to ask what happened to the stork. It’s happening around here.”
Staatsbosbeheer reports that the nest has been removed for safety reasons. According to forest ranger Kees van Son, the pole was about to fall over. “It could end up on a walking path and that’s why we removed it.”
One of the support posts, which held the pole upright, was rotten. Some residents of Deurze hoped that the stork’s nest had been temporarily removed for repairs, but Van Son had to disappoint them.
“The nest will not return, because storks are doing very well in the Netherlands. In Oudemolen, many storks nest in trees and that is natural behavior. We expect storks to do the same in Deurze.”
“Very unfortunate,” says a neighbor of Grotenhuis. “I hope they change their minds, it was a beautiful sight,” she says. Her husband adds: “It’s a shame for all walkers and cyclists. They enjoyed seeing the storks up close. On the other hand, there are plenty of storks in Drenthe,” he qualifies.
There were three nests in Deurze last year, one of which was in a tree a little further in the village. The birds have built a nest on a chimney on the house opposite Grotenhuis’s. Grotenhuis: “It could just be that we get the storks as upstairs neighbors. I don’t think I’m very happy about that. They can really shit on everything.”
View our report about the disappeared stork’s nest here: