Bringing back the Bustard

The Great Bustard Group is a UK Registered Charity (number 1092515) that aims to establish a self-sustaining population of Great Bustards in the UK and create practical conservation measures for Great Bustards in Saratov, Russia.

Great Bustards were formerly very much part of British wildlife before they were finally hunted out of existence in Britain by the 1840s. They have suffered similar dramatic declines in numbers across their range in the last 200 years and their global population is now estimated to be just 35,000 individuals. They are currently listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Globally Threatened Species.

They are a missing piece of UK wildlife heritage, artificially removed from the ecosystem due to over zealous trophy hunters. There still remains plenty of habitat suitable for Great Bustards in the UK, in particular the rolling downland and arable fields of Wessex. However, their population decline and fragmentation means recolonisation is unlikely to occur without a reintroduction programme.