Bustard

December 2003 :
The Great Bustard is still the County bird of Wiltshire and features on the County Coat of Arms, despite having been hunted to extinction over 150 years ago. Today, the Minister for Nature Conservation has recently approved a scheme which will attempt to re-introduce the Great Bustard to Salisbury Plain.
	The Great Bustard is the heaviest flying bird in the world, whose numbers are dwindling globally due mainly to habitat loss caused by modern agricultural methods : the only remaining populations are on the open grasslands of the Iberian peninsula and on the Russian Steppes. The Great Bustard is the size of a large turkey, weighing up to 20 kilos/45 pounds. It has a grey head and neck, a brown back, white underparts and a reddish-brown chest. On the ground it has a air its wing beats resemble those of an eagle, although it does not glide.
The Great Bustard chicks which will be released on Salisbury Plain in the Spring will be coming from Russia, hatched from eggs collected from nests that would otherwise have been destroyed or abandoned. After 30 days in quarantine, the chicks will be fitted with radio tracking devices before being released. The project will be closely monitored to ensure there is no danger, either to native biodiversity or to the donor population in Russia.
The granting of this licence is the culmination of 5 years’ work by the Great Bustard Consortium which comprises The Great Bustard Group based in Salisbury, Stirling University and London Zoo. The objective is to re-introduce approximately 200 birds over a period of 10 years, which should be enough to re-establish a permanent population on the Plain.
David Waters from the Great Bustard Group spoke to Drumbeat : “From a personal point of view I regard the reintroduction of the Great Bustard as particularly important for several reasons. Apart from the Great Auk which is totally extinct, the Great Bustard is the only bird that used to breed in Britain in historical times that has not done so recently. Even after an absence of 170 years the County of Wiltshire’s cultural links with the bird are both strong and unique. The Great Bustard is an ideal flagship species to promote both Conservation and the County of Wiltshire.”
Thanks solely to the Army’s presence on Salisbury Plain, the landscape has changed very little and should be ideal for the reintroduction of the Great Bustard. Indeed, the MOD supports the project and is represented on the Great Bustard Group by the Defence Estates Environmental Support Team.

You can also visit Salisbury Museum and see a display featuring the last of the Victorian Bustards. The Museum can be found in the Cathedral Close. Tel : 01722 - 332 151

August 2004 :

Twenty-eight young Great Bustards arrived on Salisbury Plain from Russia at the beginning of August, the first of a number of annual imports in the latest attempt to reintroduce the bird to the Plain, from where it disappeared in the mid 1830s.

These new arrivals will be kept in quarantine for a month, then moved to specially designed soft pens to mature and undergo “predator awareness training” to prepare them for life in the wild.

The Bustard chicks have taken well to Salisbury Plain and are growing fast, eating vast quantities of lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and cress with protein from mealworms, crickets, cottage cheese and mice. In fact they have more than doubled their weight since they arrived in this country !

The extinction of the Great Bustard in the 19th century was caused by a number of factors, the main ones being hunting and the destruction of nests, along with the collection of eggs. Today, the Great Bustard is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and anyone attempting to hunt the bird will be liable to arrest and imprisonment.

It is planned to release the birds onto the Plain later on in the Autumn and a viewing hide will be available to public use once they are released. Prior booking will be required as the site is a working farm and close to the military training area.