It seems that the storks of Vlaha have stopped at five eggs again this year and will not attempt to lay any more. Since the 31st of March, new eggs have been laid every two days in the stork nests. If the sixth had come, it should have been released today, April 10th. This did not happen, and Leske and Miska are following the tried and tested model again this year.
For the eighth year running, we have had a glimpse into the stork's nest in Vlaha via webcam. During this period, the nest's inhabitants have usually tried to hatch five eggs. Although Leske incubated six eggs in 2018 and seven in 2019, there were actually five eggs in the nest in these years too. She was merely trying to replace eggs that had been thrown away or fell out. Fewer eggs (four) were laid only once, in 2020. On that occasion, the late arrival may have prompted the storks to settle for fewer. That year, Leske arrived on the 26th of March and Miska on the 5th of April, and the first egg was laid on April 11th.
Only once in the last eight years, in 2018, have five chicks been hatched, but even then not all five reached adulthood. Usually 2-4 fledglings were ringed in the nest. However, before the camera was installed, there were two years (2011, 2015) when we had seven fledglings leaving Vlaha for Africa in August.