With planning permission granted for four stork towers to be erected on land at Bere Marsh Farm in Dorset, the Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT) is seeking sponsorship to help finance the project.

White Stork have only recently started breeding in the UK after an absence of 600 years, thanks to a breeding programme by the White Stork Project, a group of private landowners and nature conservation groups in Southeast England.

Now the CRT wants to erect four separate towers to encourage white stork to breed at Bere Marsh Farm and help the population become more established. The planning permission for the towers, which will cost £1500 each, was granted by Dorset Council and is part of the CRT’s plans to create what they call “a showcase regenerative farm and education centre” at the 92-acre farm near Blandford.

The towers will be erected on floodplain fields adjacent to the River Stour. The towers themselves consist of a telegraph pole with a galvanised steel basket. They will be part of plans to create a wilder and wetter landscape at Bere Marsh Farm.

White Stork, copyright Glyn Sellors, from the surfbirds galleries

Any local business willing to sponsor a £1500 tower will receive its name and logo on the tower and will be included in any ongoing publicity as the project develops.

“This is very much a Field of Dreams project where, like in the film, we have faith that if we build the ‘ballpark’ they will come,” said Hayley Neal the CRT’s Head of Development. “The White Stork is such an emblematic species that to have them nesting in Dorset really would be incredible.

“We are looking for sponsors who want to share this dream and help us create the right environment for the white storks to arrive,” she added.