Tight precautions for latest bustard release

From the archive, first published Thursday 26th Oct 2006.

A FURTHER nine great bustards have been released on to Salisbury Plain amid tight precautions to ensure they are clear of bird flu.

The three male and six female birds were released last week - the third annual release of a ten-year programme.

All nine birds are doing well, said Dave Waters, chairman of the Great Bustard Group.

This year the group faced one of their biggest challenges in collecting the birds from Russia because of the European Union suspension on importing birds due to avian flu worries.

Mr Waters said the nine birds were tested before they left Russia and have been repeatedly tested in special quarantine conditions in the UK prior to their release. The delays meant the birds are older than those released over the last two years.

Mr Waters said: "Predicted problems with transporting and keeping the older and

larger birds in quarantine did not materialise and the larger birds may fare better against foxes in their first few months in the wild.

"Foxes remain the greatest threat to the great bustards until the birds are about nine months old and then they are relatively safe." At least 12 of the birds released in the two previous years are alive, which represents a survival rate equal to that found in the wild populations of great bustards.

Mr Waters said the ten-year project is going well, with the second year more successful than the first, and the hope is that the third year will be even more successful than last year.

He said: "There is no book to buy which tells how to reintroduce great bustards, as nobody has ever done it before, so there is opportunity for us to learn from our mistakes and improve procedures as we progress towards a better structure."

Previously released birds have been seen around Salisbury Plain and south Wiltshire, as well as in Dorset, and one bird spent much of the summer in the vicinity of Stonehenge.