Meet the Animals

The great bustard is gradually being reintroduced to Salisbury Plain. Springwatch takes a closer look at how this great bird is settling in.

Missed something? Keep up to date with the great bustard project here.

Species information

The great bustard is not a bird many will have seen in our countryside. However until the late 1700s, these magnificent and stately looking birds were once widespread and common in Britain. But a move to more intensive farming and, more importantly, its popularity as a trophy bird, meant the great bustard was finally hunted to extinction in Britain in the 1840s.

An unusual looking bird, the great bustard is large and heavily built with a cocked tail; the head and neck are a blue-grey with a dark-barred back and white underside. Only the males have a brown band around the waist that gets bigger with age. That's not the only difference between the sexes: males can be 50% bigger than the female and in their breeding plumage they will grow large white whiskers. Males gather at display grounds (called a lek) to put on a show to impress the females.

The heaviest flying bird in the world (males can reach 20kg), the great bustard is a powerful bird in flight. It is listed as Vulnerable and a species of conservation concern.

Reintroduction project

The great bustard reintroduction programme began to release these magnificent birds back into the wild in 2004 with birds that had been reared in Russia. There is a annual release until 2013.

This reintroduction is taking place on Salisbury Plain with the aim of creating a sustainable population over the following ten years. You can read all about it on the Great Bustard Group website.

Thursday 4th June

You've named the great bustard chick! David Waters from the Great Bustard Project has chosen snowiewhite's suggestion of Sarum.

Wednesday 3rd June

Chris gets to see Rhubarb and Crumble, the first British great bustard chicks for 177 years.