File:A white stork at Melrose - geograph.org.uk - 854139.jpg

English: A white stork at Melrose. This stork made an appearance at the Borders General Hospital on 17/06/08, when appropriately, three new babies were delivered at the hospital maternity unit. It is shown here perched at the edge of the main entrance canopy 854127 where it was occasionally mobbed by a pair of crows. Visitors and staff were fascinated by this unusual visitor and it was a well photographed bird. The local bird recorder is unsure whether this is a wild bird or an escape, but a stork has been wandering over South East Scotland with sightings this year from Dundee and Dunbar. It left the hospital the following morning and I heard an unconfirmed report of a stork turning up at The Gyle in Edinburgh. This species visits the UK but in very small numbers and it is regarded as a rare vagrant in bird watching terms. There are usually about 20 records annually. In Europe it often builds a huge nest on house roofs and telegraph poles in villages and towns. It over-winters in Africa and arrives back to its breeding area about 9 months after the previous mid-summer. This timing has probably a connection with the myth of storks bringing babies and in Europe it is regarded as a lucky bird and a fertility symbol. According to the British Trust for Ornithology web site, the only nesting attempt in Britain was on St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1416.