Bustards are set free in Wiltshire (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Bustards are set free in Wiltshire

8:57am Thursday 24th September 2009 in News

Seventeen Great Bustard chicks brought over from Russia at the end of July have been released into the wild.

They are the latest of the heaviest flying birds in the world to be brought to Salisbury Plain by the Great Bustard Group as part of a project to reintroduce them to Britain, where they became extinct in the 1830s.

The young birds will join those already released in previous years and a chick born earlier in the summer, one of the first to be hatched in Britain since the 19th century.

Members of the public can visit the release site by calling 07817 971327 or going to the website www.greatbustard.com