3:27pm Thursday 5th January 2006
By Lewis Cowen
THE group spearheading the reintroduction of the world's heaviest flying bird into Wiltshire has appealed for help in tracking their wandering flock.
The latest batch of Great Bustards, which were released on farmland near Pewsey in September, have ranged far and wide, one of them turning up at Portland Bill on the Dorset coast in October.
Up to seven others of the 32 released have been spotted near Dorchester.
It has taken members of the Great Bustard Group by surprise, as last year's influx of birds, imported from Russia where they were hatched from eggs in abandoned nests, stayed close to the release site for many months.
Because last year's birds seemed to have suffered from the large transmitters strapped to their backs, the group only fixed much smaller ones with a much more limited range to only a few of this year's birds, and they were designed to fall off after a few weeks.
So the ornithologists are now unable to track the birds and are appealing to members of the public to let them know if they see the bustards.
They are unmistakable as all the birds released in 2005 sport large yellow wing tags. They are unlikely to be seen soaring high in the air, or feeding with tits and blackbirds in people's gardens.
They stand at least three feet high and fully grown males can look down on an adult roe deer. The reintroduction programme is the brainchild of former Wiltshire police officer Dave Waters, who is now chairman of the Great Bustard Group. As a teenager he saw the bustards that were imported from Spain in the 1970s as part of a failed captive breeding programme, and was determined that the birds, rendered extinct in Britain in the early 19th century, would once again live and breed on Salisbury Plain.
The project is now into its second year and strong links have been forged with Russian ornithologists who monitor their population of Great Bustards that range across the Steppes near the city of Saratov.
The project has the blessing of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and receives funding from European and British government departments as well as generous donations from bird lovers.
Great Bustards look similar in shape to geese, but with much longer legs and a straighter neck.
Fully grown males can weigh more than 20kg, as much as an adult mute swan, whereas females rarely weigh more than 5kg.
Great Bustards are very well camouflaged for a life on grassland plains. Their neck and head are pale blue-grey and their body and tail are gold with black bars. Their underparts are white, and the white on the underside of the wing is very conspicuous when they are flying.
In the breeding season, mature males become more brightly coloured, developing russet feathers on their lower neck and striking white whiskers, nearly eight inches long, from either side of the chin.
This is the time when the Great Bustard is at its most impressive.
Anyone who thinks they have seen bustards should ring the group on 07817 971327.
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