REINTRODUCTIONS of formerly rare or locally extinct species have had success throughout the world and in Britain too. Notable ones are the red kite, which can now be seen regularly in various parts of Britain, and the sea eagle in Scotland. The latest good news story is that of the Great Bustard right in the heart of England on Salisbury Plain.
The Great Bustard is an iconic bird which was once common in England from Yorkshire down through East Anglia and across central southern England through to the West Country. Originally birds of expansive grassland plains, they have in places adapted well to modern agricultural habitats in several parts of Europe and Asia.
The largest population of around 23,000 is found in Spain and there are believed to be in the region of 10,000 birds in the former Soviet Union states, mainly in Russia. Smaller numbers are found dispersed across Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia.
In Britain, the Great Bustard declined dramatically during the 17th and 18th centuries so that by the 19th century it had virtually disappeared. The last breeding record in the UK was in 1832 in Suffolk. Reasons for the decline were partly a change of environment due to the Enclosure Acts, plus the hugely popular pastimes of trophy hunting for taxidermy and scientific specimen collecting. Since the 1840s Great Bustards have been seen only occasionally in Britain as rare vagrants.
Heaviest flying bird
Great Bustards are huge, heavily-built birds, with males typically weighing 8- 16kg (but reportedly reaching over 20kg), which makes them the world’s heaviest flying bird. The females are considerably smaller, perhaps 3-5kg when mature.
They are almost exclusively ground dwelling but capable of rapid flight when pushed, and are extremely wary, hiding in long grass if disturbed or threatened. They are long lived and the males are particularly slow to mature, not reaching breeding age until five or six years of age.
Clutch sizes are small, usually two eggs are laid but one or three eggs are possible. Natural mortality of chicks is very high at over 80 % in the first year. If they reach this landmark then they can expect to live perhaps another 15 or 20 years in the wild.
With no realistic prospect of natural recolonisation of Britain by vagrant birds, the Great Bustard Group (GBG) was set up in 1998 to look at the possibility of reintroducing the birds. A feasibility study demonstrated that there was suitable habitat, particularly amongst the chalk grasslands of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, and in 2003 DEFRA issued a 10- year trial licence to release Great Bustards in the UK. Releases of artificially reared chicks began in 2004 and have occurred annually, scheduled to end in 2013.
First UK-bred chicks
So, what success if any has been achieved to date? The Great Bustard made headlines earlier this month when the first UK-bred chicks were seen: two with one adult female and a single chick with another. It shows that the reintroduction programme being followed really can work, right the way through the whole life cycle.
All the re-introduced birds are reared from eggs that are rescued from agricultural activities in the Saratov Oblast area of southern Russia.
The eggs are hatched and the chicks reared to six weeks of age in their native land before being imported into England and undergoing a period of quarantine.
They are then released from pens in much the same way as reared game birds. Great care is taken during the rearing stage to prevent the chicks becoming habituated to humans, thus ensuring that they live as wild birds right from the outset.
Re-introducing slow maturing birds such as the Great Bustard requires a vision and degree of commitment to the project that surpasses that which most of us would be able to muster. That it now appears to be paying dividends is a cause for genuine celebration with the prospect of the Bustard once more being listed as a native British breeding bird.
In conservation terms, success doesn’t come much bigger than that.
