WIiltshire's project to reintroduce the Great Bustard to its former range on Salisbury Plain has been given a £1.8 million grant by the European Union.

The money for the five year project follows years of negotiations by a consortium including the Great Bustard Group, the University of Bath, the RSPB and Natural England.

The project was set up in 2000 by former Wiltshire policeman Dave Waters and his wife Karen and the first chicks were brought over from Russia in 2004. Now 18 birds are thought to be living on the plain.

In 2009 the first Great Bustard chicks in 177 years were hatched in the wild on Salisbury Plain and last year four eggs hatched.

The money from the EU Life fund will cover 75 per cent of the scheme’s costs, including monitoring the released birds with GPS satellite transmitters.

The bustard group has struggled financially in recent years, relying on fundraising by volunteers, sales and membership fees.

Mr Waters, who is currently in Russia, said: “We would sometimes struggle to find £10 or £20 to put diesel in the Land Rover. Now we have a chance to give this project wings.” The grant would fund four new posts and monitoring equipment.

Bath University PhD student John Burnside said: “We’re particularly interested in how the birds will behave in their new habitat.

“Great Bustards learn a lot of their behaviour from each other and so the newly introduced chicks have to learn quickly how to feed, survive and avoid predators without the help of their mother.”