Went down to IENA this morning and nearly all the nests have birds on them and many are couples. Not been to Altreu yet as weâre busy packing for the next part of the UK move happening in a couple of weeks.
Saw about a dozen storks in a field just outside Murten this morning. They must be overwintering somewhere along the lake shore methinks.
They never left our Swabian church roof, and the fields have been full of them ever since nesting season.
Theyâve gone from IENA and Altreu. Weâve never seen them in that area by Murten before even in the summer time.
We see them frequently in that area.
They are very often seen between Murten and Ins and frequently fly over our friendâs house in Vallamand.
We did see a few in the fields around Vully area when heading for Ins during winter time some years ago, but havenât seen them recently.
Oh no! 
" Several hundred storks found dead near Madrid
Some 400 storks have been found dead, victims of bird flu, along a river in the Madrid region, local authorities announced on Tuesday. The latter will carry out additional analyses to determine the severity of the virus.
âThe Community of Madrid is carrying out new analyses after the discovery of a large number of storks found dead on [the banks of] the Manzanares Riverâ in the municipality of Getafe, in the greater suburbs of Madrid, the region said in a statement.
If the authorities had detected an outbreak of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) a few days ago, they now suspect, âin the face of the appearance of a large number of deceased individualsâ, the presence of a highly pathogenic outbreak (HPAI).
The Madrid region explains that it is ânow waiting for the results of the samples sent to the laboratory (âŠ) under the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foodâ. âIn the event that the results of high pathogenicity are confirmed,â surveillance measures would be reinforced, the statement said.
Transmissible to humans
âMeasures for outbreaks of avian influenza of high pathogenicityâ are already being applied, such as âbanning the breeding of ducks and geese with other poultry species, free-range poultry farming, limiting visits to breeding facilities or controlling the water supply to ensure that it has not been contaminatedâ.
The press release finally specifies that âthis flu could be transmitted to humans through the mucous membranes, with an effect similar to that of seasonal influenza, although in Europe no case of transfer by direct contact has been observed. It cannot be contracted through the consumption of poultry products.â
In total, more than 200 outbreaks of avian flu have already been identified in poultry farms in Europe this season, a higher level than in previous years, although it remains far from the thousands of farms hit during the last epizootic peak in 2022 with tens of millions of poultry slaughtered."
Went down to IENA and over to Altreu today to see if any had come back yet. None at IENA, but there were about half a dozen at Altreu so expect more to be back soon.
A large flock of migrating storks flew over here today.
Some of them made a little stop in the Val de Travers and others landed in Le Landeron.
They hang around Lake Constance fields near the motorway at Dornbirn all year, but last week I only saw one on the wing, none standing in the fields.