Tag Archives: Wiltshire

Headstarting Great Bustards

The Great Bustard Group (GBG) was formed in 1997 with the aim of reintroducing the Great Bustard to the UK.

The Great Bustard became extinct here in the middle of the 19th century, largely due to the activities of ornithologists wanting specimens for their collections.

The first Great Bustards were released in 2004.

There are now three established sub populations across south Wiltshire and work is underway in creating a fourth. The total population in spring  2026 was close to 55 birds.

The population is self-sustaining and slowly increasing.

Headstarting is a way to accelerate population growth and to spread the breeding range.

The Great Bustard is the only bird in the UK which is classed as being Globally Endangered (IUCN and Birdlife).

The GBG conservation actions may be split into six groups:

Provision of habitat –  the lease/rent of over 30 hectares at 5 locations which are managed as chick rearing plots and work with farms to modify existing habitat and schemes to benefit Great Bustards

Protection of nests – particularly from silage cutting, which endangers females.

Monitoring and evaluation – annual census, breeding success and population recruitment

Research to facilitate better conservation actions – including development of agri-enviroment schemes.

Headstarting chicks and release to increase breeding range.

Promotion of the Great Bustard and its conservation benefits – including events, hosting visitors, Newsletters, and social media.

Overview of Headstarting

The headstarting takes place at the GBG facility on Salisbury Plain. The base is on tenanted MOD farmland near Enford in the Avon Valley, Wiltshire.

The eggs are taken under the provisions of a licence issued by Natural England to rescue eggs from nests in endangered or vulnerable locations or situations. They are moved in transport incubators to the Cotswold Wildlife Park where the incubation is continued. As soon as the chicks hatch they are collected in heated transport boxes and brought to the GBG facility at Enford, Salisbury Plain.

The chicks are reared until they are fully feathered and able to withstand all weathers and  are then given a thorough health check ensuring they are fit for release and free from an infectious or notifiable disease.

As well as a physical examination the checks include the taking of blood and faecal samples which are submitted to specialist laboratories for virology, bacterial and parasitology.

At this stage the birds are all micro chipped by the vet and then go to the aviaries at the release site  on the edges of Salisbury Plain.

A soft release process is then undertaken with the birds being fully independent by the end of September. This involves staff wearing the distinctive costume taking the birds out for increasing periods of time.

By September the birds are out for several hours and at the end of the month do not wish to return to the aviaries and in effect have then released themselves.

Restore Our Planet are pleased to be supporting this exciting initiative.

 

Cloatley Manor habitat restoration

Cloatley Manor is a large parcel of neutral grassland in the Braydon Forest near Malmesbury.

Restore Our Planet helped fund The Wltshire Wildlife Trust to seize the opportunity to acquire 77 acres of adjacent land consisting of 8 fields and a small copse. 3 fields have been notified as SSSI with a further two containing good quality vegetation. Species present include betony, black knapweed, meadow sweet, saw-wort and pepper saxifrage. Each field is surrounded by tall and species rich hedgerows which are themselves bordered by deep ditches and water courses.

Sympathetic management regimes now serve to preserve and restore the landscape and the biodiversity across the site

Langford Fisheries habitat protection

Langford Fisheries is an area of 13 hectares at Steeple Langford near Salisbury, consisting half a mile of exceptional double bank chalk river, which enjoys SSSI status; 20 acres of flooded gravel pits holding an outstanding array of resident and migrant birds; and 13 acres of dry land, including woodland and pasture.

The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust proposed to acquire the land to safeguard the river and manage it as a nature reserve.

Restore Our Planet contributed a grant to the Trust’s acquisition fund as we felt it was crucial that this site be acquired as the alternatives include an organised shoot targeting the existing birds or high intensity fishery, which would have been hugely detrimental to the ecological integrity of this important site.

Blakehill airfield habitat restoration

In 2000 the 235 hectare former Blakehill airfield near Cricklade in Wiltshire became the site of the UK’s largest restoration of an ancient wildflower meadow, meeting 50% of the government’s target for restoring ancient meadows to 2010. Intensified agriculture has resulted in the loss of 97% of UK hay meadows in the last 50 years.

The restoration of Blakehill will bring back wildflowers such as knapweed, devil’s-bit scabious and saw-wort; butterflies including meadow brown, white letter hairstreak and orange tip; and birds such as skylark and curlews. The scrub woodlands at the edge of the fields will also attract nightingales, barn owls and reed buntings.

Funding provided by Restore Our Planet purchased and erected bat and owl boxes in a building to the north-east of the site, near suitable hedgerows and boundaries, and in an old underground bunker on the site. Hedgerow restoration was also undertaken in order to create a vital corridor for wildlife.