It was December 2025, and a harsh northerly wind was whipping through the hair of Dr. Giorgos Catsadorakis. He had arrived from Greece the day before. Today, he was crossing the Norfolk Broads in a small boat.
Catsadorakis is one of a handful of world experts in the ecology of the Dalmatian pelican. I had brought him here as part of a long-running investigation by my company, Restore, into the possibility of returning these once-native birds to Britain. Now, brushing past the reeds of Hickling Broad, he was discussing the habitat requirements of one of the largest flying birds on the planet: a species that has not lived wild in Britain since the early Middle Ages.
As we sailed out into the Broad, a marsh harrier floated across the reeds and a pair of mute swans lifted from the water. Less than two millennia ago – an ecological blink of an eye – these would have sailed, and flown, beside Dalmatian pelicans.
'If we want to return the Dalmatian pelican to Britain, one of the most important clues we have is the presence of the cormorant,' Giorgos said, with typical intensity. The two species, he explained, hunt side by side: deep-diving cormorants flush fish up towards the pelicans, which scoop them from the surface in their enormous beaks.
'Large populations of cormorant, like those we have seen here and at Abberton Reservoir, indicate enough feeding opportunities for a smaller number of pelicans, as we see across their European range.'
Giorgos is as synonymous in European ornithology with the Dalmatian pelican as he is with the Prespa lake system the birds frequent. He spent 21 years at WWF Greece as a senior scientific adviser, and has been scientific adviser to the Society for the Protection of Prespa since 1991. In 2001 he shared the Goldman Environmental Prize with biologist Myrsini Malakou for creating the first trans-boundary protected area in the Balkans.
Alongside him was Sebastian Bugariu. From the Danube Delta region, he is one of the most respected ornithologists in Romania, another world expert in the Dalmatian pelican and, like Giorgos, a man with a deep understanding of Europe's larger wetlands. I was conscious that for Sebastian, the bar for wetland appreciation had been set very high indeed – and I wondered what he would make of the Norfolk Broads.
Crammed alongside us in that boat were some of the most influential figures in British avian conservation, from the head of species at the RSPB to state regulators at Natural England, and wardens and representatives from the Wildlife Trusts.
It was interesting to watch two conservation worlds collide. Most of the people in that boat had never imagined that the nature reserves they had created and protected could one day host Dalmatian pelicans. Giorgos and Sebastian had grown up with giant pelicans as their neighbours. When I first raised the idea of pelican reintroduction, the interest was a combination of mild curiosity and courtesy. Now, with two world experts appraising Britain's pelican potential for the first time, curiosity had turned to attention.
Everyone strained forward to hear what Giorgos had to say.
Sorry to interrupt just as the road trip is getting underway. Sophie here, editor of Inkcap. Benedict, Lucia and I have been working for months to bring our pelican series to life. Commissioning, writing, editing – it all takes time.
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