This is a head shot of the Great Bustard which stands in the entrance to County Hall in Trowbridge.
The great bustard was formerly native in Great Britain and a bustard forms part of the design of the Wiltshire Coat of Arms.
It became extinct in Great Britain when the last bird was shot in 1832.
In 2004, a project overseeing the reintroduction to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire using eggs taken from Saratov in Russia was undertaken by The Great Bustard Group, a UK Registered Charity that aims to establish a self-sustaining population of great bustards in the UK. The reintroduced birds have laid eggs and raised chicks in Britain in 2009 and 2010.
The reintroduction of the great bustard to the UK by the Great Bustard Group is being carried out in parallel with researchers from the University of Bath who are providing insight into the habitat of native great bustard populations in Russia and Hungary.
This is really interesting. It makes you wonder - they know when the last bird was shot - did the guy who did that know what he was doing!! The reintroduction program sounds wonderful.
@robz Thank you for stopping by and commenting. Um not sure if the guy knew he shot the last bustard in Britain! Hopefully things will continue to go well with the reintroduction project though.
