great bustard project

B etween the middle of the 19th century and the early 21st, the heaviest wild breeding bird in the UK was the mute swan at around 11kg. In 2004, a retired policeman from Wiltshire hatched a plan, and later an egg, which has raised that weight by nearly half. David Waters and his team have reintroduced the great bustard.

"It has been a long and painful route, " says David. "The basic motivation is: I thought it was a good idea and nobody else seemed prepared to undertake it. If there's one thing I hate in life, it's the phrase, 'someone ought to do something'."

In 2007, the project recorded its first great bustard nest. There were a couple more in 2008 and the first chick hatched in 2009. "We've had nests every year since then, " says David.

Cholsey Wildlife: Great Bustard

You can see Britain's only bustards for yourself at the Great Bustard project on the edge of Salisbury Plain. Book a visit and you'll be met in a car park and taken to a viewing hide by Land Rover. The birds are wild and free flying. Your first glimpse of these birds, with their 2.5-metre wingspans, is, says David, an experience not to be missed.

The naturalist Simon King is a fan. "How marvellous it is that one of the planet's heaviest flying birds, perhaps the heaviest, once again breeds on British soil, " he says. "The Great Bustard project is testament to the care, dedication and vision of the team that have nurtured the release birds to the point where there are now free ranging birds raising families of their own."

Britain's only bustard was hunted to extinction, with the last one probably killed in the 1840s. Now it is fox control by hunters that's helping to keep it alive. The bird's best boon, however, is the natural paradise that is the military training area on Salisbury Plain.

Great Bustard Reintroduction Hailed

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) owns 94, 000 acres of Salisbury Plain. Access to much of the area is restricted and the risk of coming across unexploded ordnance helps keep visitors to the public footpaths (details can be downloaded from bit.ly/greyplain).

David thinks it's the lack of disturbance that does most to make his project successful. "If you go up in a Land Rover, you don't disturb the birds at all, " he says. "If you go on foot, you see the birds slip off their nests. People who go searching for them on their own either upset the great bustards, the stone curlews, the military, or me."

What to see: The Great Bustard project (01980 671466, greatbustard.org). Visits cost £10 per person (90 mins duration) and typically run on Tue-Sun at 9.30am, 11.30am or 2pmHIS REDDISH brown neck swells to the size of a football. Atop it, a blue-grey head proudly sports what looks like a drooping handlebar moustache. Up goes a fan of bright white feathers across his back as he struts his flamboyant stuff. A metre tall and weighing in at around 20 kilograms, the male Eurasian great bustard in mating mode is an impressive sight.

Great Bustard (otis Tarda ) Chicks In Rearing Pen, Part Of Salisbury Plain Reintroduction Project Hand Rearing And Releasing Into Wild To Create A Sus Stock Photo

This display was once common in the UK. But the great bustard – which shares the title of world’s heaviest flying bird with two cousins, the Kori bustard and the great Indian bustard – became extinct here almost two centuries ago. Worldwide, its numbers have now dwindled to between 44, 000 and 57, 000, with most living in Spain and Russia. Yet, on a blustery autumn day, from a hide on the edge of Ministry of Defence land on Salisbury plain, Wiltshire, I can see 16 through my binoculars. They are here thanks to the Herculean efforts of a charity called the Great Bustard Group (GBG), and one man in particular, the indomitable David Waters.

Just three years ago, a major partnership set up to drive the project forward collapsed acrimoniously and the prospects for the return of the great bustard seemed poor. Now, remarkably, Waters and his team claim they stand on the brink of having a self-sustaining wild population in the UK. If they’re right, this would be a major conservation triumph, and a personal vindication for Waters in the face of deep …

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The great bustard is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and European populations have been in long-term decline. This has only been arrested by conservation projects in some areas. This project contributed to the conservation of the species in Europe.

In the UK, the great bustard became nationally extinct when the last bird was shot in 1832. This iconic species of the Wiltshire landscape returned to the UK in 2004 when the Great Bustard Group initiated the 10-year trial reintroduction. The project sourced birds rescued from agricultural operations in Russia, with a plan to release 20 birds per year onto Salisbury Plain.

Great Bustards Re Introduced In Britain

The project achieved early progress with females laying eggs in 2007 (though unfortunately they were infertile), and males reaching maturity in 2009. This was followed by the success of the first chicks to be hatched for over 175 years, with fledging achieved in the same year. Unfortunately, this chick did not survive its first winter.

Great bustards in the past occurred on chalk downland in central southern England and in the open sandy Brecklands of eastern England, and archaeological evidence shows the species was native rather than introduced. In addition, great bustards from continental Europe moved to the UK during the colder months. Traditionally birds of expansive grass plains, they have adapted well to arable farming in some European countries. This ambitious project aimed to try and restore the species to the UK after an absence of almost 200 years.

In 2012, it became apparent that Russian great bustards would not be a viable source for the project, as they expressed too strong an instinct to migrate. In 2013, it was decided that the project should seek to use Spain as a donor population. This change was made for a number of reasons:

Eurasian Bustard Alliance

Delays associated with establishing links with Spain meant no birds were imported into the UK in 2013. In spring 2014, 54 eggs were brought back to the UK from Spain and 33 birds were released at two sites in Wiltshire. Monitoring work is currently underway to assess the differences in dispersal between Spanish and Russian bustards. This will allow the project to determine if the changes made in the source population will help in establishing a truly wild population of great bustards in the UK.

If this year’s release proves to be successful, the project still has many more goals to achieve in order to reach its objectives. The next goal to work towards is to address the breeding success rate seen in the reintroduced birds. A long-term strategy is being developed to look at ways conservation efforts in the UK can be applied to benefit the great bustard and what can be realistically achieved for this species in the UK after the end of the LIFE project.

Re-introduction projects are complex. As a result, the project has experienced a mixture of successes and set backs – though learning important lessons from both, to aid future conservation work. Progress against the central project objective of significantly increasing the population of great bustards on Salisbury Plain has been slow. The adult population was only five birds at the beginning of the LIFE project, and currently stands at nine, before the results of the 2014 release are known. Although breeding has taken place in every year since 2007, only one juvenile reached 100 days after hatching and even this bird was not recruited to the adult population.

Great Bustard (otis Tarda) Adult Female, With Leg Rings, Standing On Grass, Stock Photo, Picture And Rights Managed Image. Pic. Fhr 01200 00212 783

Major improvements have been made to every stage of the rear and release process with the aim of increasing post-release survival. Many changes were developed by sharing knowledge and experience with partners in Europe, especially in

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