Representation by Great Bustard Group (Great Bustard Group)
- Date submitted
- 10 January 2019
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Great Bustards are listed as Annex 1 birds and designated vulnerable by the IUCN. The birds became extinct in the UK in the mid-1800s, the odd migrant bird has been recorded since. The Great Bustard is the Wiltshire County bird and is now on the Wiltshire Flag and the County Coat of Arms recognising its historical importance. A trial re-introduction project was set up in the UK 1998 with the first Great Bustards being imported from Russia in 2004 and Great Bustard eggs from Spain since 2014. The birds are reared on Salisbury Plain for release under licence from Natural England. In 2009 the project was successful in having the first wild hatched chicks, since then a minimum of 10 wild reared chicks are in the south west of the UK. The present population is at approximately 70+ birds with most of the population residing in South Wiltshire. The re-introduction of these bird was part of an EU Life project several years ago. The concern of the Great Bustard Group is that after huge input and 12 years of imports, the wild breeding will be severely compromised because of all the disturbance in already established breeding areas. The DCO application states that although disruption will be evident during construction it will not impact after construction as it is an ‘open grassland’ birds. Although old literature state this, observations since the project started has seen birds spend a high percentage of their time, particularly in the winter, on agricultural land and on similar habitat to Stone Curlews. The sightings and breeding of the birds on farmland that is earmarked for the scheme on the road construction and the construction villages itself has been observed for several years. The birds even though large, are extremely difficult to see and very shy. The disruption both in the pre-construction period and during construction is liable to disperse the birds further afield and away from the area they have chosen to inhabit themselves. The plan to ‘open up’ the land for access to the public, non-motorised vehicles etc. is also of great concern. At present much of the land surrounding the proposed construction sites is closed to walkers, cyclists etc. giving all wildlife, including the bustards, deer, Common curlews, many stone curlews and several more species the opportunity to hide, breed and not be disturbed by humans, dogs and vehicles. Unfortunately, the Great Bustard Group have not been approached for any detail regarding the birds and project even after post consultation representation has been given. Instead, information was obtained from outdated information from 3rd parties far removed from the present project giving a distorted view of the current situation. The bustards have been recognised as a success story in the media in recent years. All have visited the site and presented the bustard story both on television and in various magazine and newspaper articles. The Great Bustard Group would be happy to host a site visit in order to present true up to date information.