After a long walk with Jasper around Seaford Head and the Lower Cuckmere, the exciting news of a Great Bustard at Birling Gap was put out on a WhatsApp group. It transpired that Simon and the SOS group had watched the bird fly in from the east and land in the sheep field at Birling. Despite the fact this was most likely going to be one of the Salisbury Plain birds, I was on site within 15-minutes.
The Great Bustard was still present upon my arrival and stayed in the area for another hour before flying off west being harried by a Greater Black-backed Gull. It was bearing a red ring on the left leg with the code '92'. The wings weren't in the best condition that one would hope from a wild bird and therefore I think it's best to assume this bird had been released from a few counties to the west of us.
Turns out this was the case as I received an email from Ruth Manvell who is director of the Great Bustard Group: 'The Great Bustard seen at Birling Gap today is a juvenile female about 5.5 months old from the Wiltshire project. She was released around Salisbury Plain area in mid-August and we last saw her about two weeks ago. She was hatched from an egg imported from Spain back in early May. The females are usually quite shy and nervous. She was released with others but she stayed around until recently and we are not sure where the others are at the moment.'
The Great Bustard was still present upon my arrival and stayed in the area for another hour before flying off west being harried by a Greater Black-backed Gull. It was bearing a red ring on the left leg with the code '92'. The wings weren't in the best condition that one would hope from a wild bird and therefore I think it's best to assume this bird had been released from a few counties to the west of us.
Turns out this was the case as I received an email from Ruth Manvell who is director of the Great Bustard Group: 'The Great Bustard seen at Birling Gap today is a juvenile female about 5.5 months old from the Wiltshire project. She was released around Salisbury Plain area in mid-August and we last saw her about two weeks ago. She was hatched from an egg imported from Spain back in early May. The females are usually quite shy and nervous. She was released with others but she stayed around until recently and we are not sure where the others are at the moment.'
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juvenile-female Great Bustard
at Birling Gap
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