First British born great bustards for 177 years!
- Thread starter kiang
- Start date
This press release is also featured on the Great Bustard website and was covered by the regional news last night also.
It seems using the Spanish birds with less migratory tendencies means they may at last have turned a corner with the scheme. 17 or so birds(50% of last year's release) on the Plain after the winter is by far the highest they've achieved, to join the 8 or 9 existing, more established birds, to give their stated total of 26.
Plus several chicks have now hatched in the wild, though previously none have reached maturity and joined the population- perhaps this will be the first year they achieve that too. Plus another release of 30 or so Spanish birds to come.
Things are definately looking up.
It seems using the Spanish birds with less migratory tendencies means they may at last have turned a corner with the scheme. 17 or so birds(50% of last year's release) on the Plain after the winter is by far the highest they've achieved, to join the 8 or 9 existing, more established birds, to give their stated total of 26.
Plus several chicks have now hatched in the wild, though previously none have reached maturity and joined the population- perhaps this will be the first year they achieve that too. Plus another release of 30 or so Spanish birds to come.
Things are definately looking up.
A pity they don't say how many exactly they have hatched this year, but it will probably be reported somewhere by the GBT later on. The wild nesting females on Salisbury Plain- number not announced yet- must be hatching their eggs around now too- a pity the weather was so vile yesterday at this crucial time.