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Night time bustard activity
Posted on Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 by Andrew Taylor
Although great bustards are not a nocturnal species, they are certainly at their most active at dawn and dusk. We have always been interested in their level of activity during the hours of darkness, when we are not able to see them. Over the years we have had a few clues – bustards with satellite transmitters changing location [...]
Black 17 back in the UK
Posted on Thursday, April 18th, 2013 by Andrew Taylor
In November last year Black 17, a two year old female bustard, became the first adult bustard from the project to migrate to France. She wintered with a flock of several hundred cranes on the west coast of France, near La Rochelle, and had not been reported since 27th February. Not surprisingly, we were very excited [...]
Bustards looking their best
Posted on Friday, March 15th, 2013 by Andrew Taylor
Several displaying male bustards are currently a daily sight at our release site. The most impressive of these is Purple 5, the oldest male great bustard living in the wild in the UK. Dave Kjaer has recently taken this superb series of photographs of P5 looking his absolute best. Visits to the project through March and April are [...]
Helping bustards in the snow
Posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2013 by Andrew Taylor
As birds which live and feed on the ground, deep snow can be a serious problem for great bustards. We are lucky that in southern England, cold snaps tend to be short and far apart. In countries like Germany, Hungary and Austria, bustards often make cold weather movements, escaping from particularly severe winter weather. This exposes them to [...]
Bird poo study to help great bustards thrive
Posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 by Andrew Taylor
Move over Gillan McKeith – scientists at the University of Bath are studying the droppings of great bustards to help understand their diet and nutrition with the aim of boosting their survival in a conservation project to reintroduce the birds to the UK. Great bustards, the world’s largest flying bird and the county mascot for [...]
Channel-hopping bustards
Posted on Thursday, November 22nd, 2012 by Andrew Taylor
We are doing everything we can to discourage released great bustards from moving south in winter, as they do in the Russian source population, because it does not help their survival chances. They are released in areas of ideal habitat, with ample natural food. This year we have provided supplementary food using our ‘bustard’ rearing [...]
New tractor will benefit our bustards
Posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2012 by Andrew Taylor
With huge thanks to C&O Tractors, the project received another new tractor this week. It came as a replacement for ‘Boomer’, the New Holland tractor we have had on loan from C&O for just over a year. As the picture shows, it’s a big upgrade! The tractor is one of the most important pieces of [...]
Release 2012 – the UK-reared birds
Posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 by Andrew Taylor
This summer, we imported great bustard eggs into the UK from Russia for the first time. It was an exciting moment for the project, the first time great bustard eggs had ever been transported by air, and we were delighted when within two weeks all six of the eggs had hatched. Unfortunately one chick died [...]
Release 2012 – the Russian-reared birds
Posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 by Andrew Taylor
Two weeks ago the release process began for the chicks reared in Russia this year. All were moved to our new release site, which gave us promising first results last year. The six young birds have been encouraged to make as gradual a transition to the wild as possible. For the first few days they were [...]
Bustards in mustard
Posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 by Andrew Taylor
Appropriately, bustards love mustard. A small plot was sown at our release site a few weeks ago, and the bustards in the area have been enjoying it ever since. Click on the two links below to see videos of feeding bustards and even a male flapping his wings. Bustards in mustard 1 Bustards in mustard 2
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