Welcome on the Internetsite of The Outdoor Storks Centre "Het Doove Gat". We hope to inform you on this website about the stork and the by the foundation "Vogelbescherming" started stork project. In special the Outdoor Storks Centre in Haastrecht.
A Ciconia ciconia (Linneaus 1758) stork is no longer an unusual sight in the Netherlands, although these black-and-white gliders of the wetlands were even more common in the past. No animal has so many local names as the stork, such as Uiver, Eiber, Ellever, Adebar, Earrebarre, and Hoetbar. People had plenty of reasons to love this bird: it brought good luck and most importantly, babies.
Not long ago the stork threatened to disappear from the Dutch countryside. This went through immense changes in such a short period of time that the elegant bird started to feel less and less at home. Land redistribution, drainage, fertilisers and the increased use of agricultural machinery and weed killers were very useful to farmers, who saw the value of their land per hectare increase each day. However, these measures, also known as the intensification and rationalisation of agriculture, resulted in a rich animal life disappearing from the countryside. The stork was not able to find enough food, the migration routes became unsafe and the wintering grounds became less hospitable.