Salisbury Plain great bustard project EU funding boost

[mattycourt]

Evening all,

Bit of light hearted humour!
Just saw this on the news and just had to post it. Keep your eyes peeled over Salisbury!

Salisbury Plain great bustard project EU funding boost

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50853000/jpg/_50853686_bustard.jpg The species was reintroduced to Salisbury Plain in 2004
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-12218959#story_continues_1) Related stories


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A project to reintroduce the great bustard to the UK has been given a £1.8m boost from the European Union.
The world's heaviest flying bird was hunted to extinction in the UK in 1832. It was reintroduced to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire in 2004.
A population of around 18 has been established from chicks brought from Russia.
The cash will cover 75% of the scheme's costs, including monitoring the birds with GPS satellite transmitters.
The Great Bustard Consortium was founded in 2004 to reintroduce the birds.
It is made up of the Great Bustard Group, the University of Bath, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Natural England.
Reared to fledging The group is embarking on a five-year project, funded by an EU Life+ grant.
In 2009, the first great bustard chicks in 177 years hatched in the wild in the UK. Last year, at least four chicks hatched and two native chicks were successfully reared to fledging.
Male great bustards can reach more than 1m tall (40in) with a wingspan of up to 2.4m (7ft 10in).
A University of Bath spokesman said 16 bustards had been fitted with satellite transmitters to track where they feed and roost.
The areas will be monitored for the availability of food, and for predators.
Feeding patches with the right plants and seeds to provide food and attract the type of insects the birds eat will also be cultivated.
'Real wings' David Waters, founder and director of the Great Bustard Group, said: "Despite our successes over the last six years, we would sometimes struggle to find £10 or £20 to put diesel in the Land Rover; now we have a chance to give this project real wings.
"The funding will provide a properly resourced project, with four new posts, new monitoring equipment and even the possibility of a second release site."
The project's partners will still have to find 25% of the costs.
Bath PhD student John Burnside said: "We're particularly interested in how the birds will behave in their new habitat.
"Great bustards learn a lot of their behaviour from each other and so the newly introduced chicks have to learn quickly how to feed, survive and avoid predators without the help of their mother.
"As the population becomes established, their survival chances should hopefully get better - this project will be looking into ways of improving release methods and the survival of the birds in the long term."

[Mechta]

A University of Bath spokesman said 16 bustards had been fitted with satellite transmitters to track where they feed and roost.

Mode 'S' and Flarm could also be useful. Will the Watchkeeper UAV see and avoid?:E

[ShyTorque]

I saw many Great Bustards on Salisbury Plain in my time. Most of them wore khaki uniforms. :E

[Lister Noble]

If you can get your head out of the cockpit,it's a great project.;)

[2hotwot]

I understand that following concens about the decline of the species at some airports, that EASA scientists are proposing to fit private pilots with satellite transmitters to track where they feed and roost.

A nameless spokesman said that some appeared to be reverting to a flightless species whilst others seemed to be operating from fields in countyside in which it was sometimes difficult for bureaucrats to locate them.

It is however unlikely that the EU will be making a £1.8 million donation or any other concession towards their re-introduction.
:hmm:

[Genghis the Engineer]

For £1.8m I could run my flight safety research lab, with a continuous staff of about 4, for 8 years, generating probably 20 research papers on flight safety research subjects, giving numerous talks on how to achieve safety improvements to flying clubs, conferences, flying instructors and aircraft designers, and qualifying at-least half a dozen doctoral level researchers and 1-2 postdocs (who will then go on to become university lecturers) in flight safety who can then go and work for another 30+ years each in various aviation organisations pushing forward the boundaries of aeronautical technology and safety.

For the same money a paid birdwatcher in Bath is going to try and re-introduce the British equivalent of the dodo into an area full of natural preditors (I used to live there, and on my evening run usually saw owls, kestrels and foxes on the prowl) to see what will happen. What will happen of-course is the same as last time; they'll all get eaten.

A colleague of mine (he researches atmospheric science towards understanding pollution and global warming) refers to these scientists as "ptarmigan counters and rock botherers".

I don't dispute that this research *may* have some value, but really, an environmental science PhD student costs about £50k over 3 years - say three of those, a postdoctoral research fellow for half a dozen years, equipment and overheads, and maybe you come to £500k. What the hell are they doing with the other £1.3m?

G

[pulse1]

A couple of great Bustards taught me to fly over Salisbury Plain in the late 60's.

[ShyTorque]

What the hell are they doing with the other £1.3m?

Researching good recipes? :}

Bustard and mustard, or with custard?

Whatever you do, it's not a good idea to look up with your mouth open on Salisbury Plain...

[aviate1138]

Great bustard males can reach 8ft wingspan and over 40 lbs in weight! The reason they became extinct in the UK was they were shot and eaten by 'sporting' gentlemen in the 1840s.

The Wiltshire Coat of Arms includes a Great Bustard. Otis Tarda.

They fly at around 60kph and are rather dull, almost camouflaged. Salisbury Plain is about the only place they could find the grassland they like.

[Agaricus bisporus]

Or a large enough area without said sporting (without unnecessary inverted commas ) gentlemen...

[sunday driver]

According to 'Shooting Times' Oct 1856,
"Easy to see, easy to shoot, feeds 20.
"Verdict - Cost effective and tasty"

:E