THE project to reintroduce the Great Bustard to Salisbury Plain is having to rely more on its own merchandising after its main source of grant aid dried up.

The Great Bustard Group has been told by Sustain the Plain, a Government initiative to use European Union money to re-invigorate communities living on and around Salisbury Plain, it has no more cash for the project and administrators are looking for new sources of funding.

The group has also had the door slammed in its face from many environmental charities, who have earmarked their meagre resources to finance biodiversity action plans.

Karen Waters of the Great Bustard Group said: "These are action plans agreed by the UK Government for species of animals and plants that have been identified as being priority species, generally following a severe decline.

"There were no Great Bustards in the UK, and no licence to release them when the list of biodiversity action plan species was drawn up.

"As a consequence there is no Government action plan to help the species."

John Dowsett, one of the administrators of Sustain the Plain based at Community First in Devizes, said they were committed to providing funds to the Great Bustard Group this year, but beyond that the future was uncertain.

He said: "We agreed to fund the project to the tune of £170,000 over three years. Some 45 per cent of the Sustain the Plain money comes from the European Union, another 22 per cent from Defra and the remainder we raise ourselves from various sources.

"The European money has now dried up but we will fund the project this year, though we don't know where the money is coming from, which is why we have given the Great Bustard Group such an uncertain reply.

"We never envisaged funding it for longer than three years."

The Great Bustard Group will now have to rely more heavily on its membership subscription scheme and selling merchandise, such as pictures, books, jigsaws and games.

It also has an arrangement with Stig Andersen of Stonehenge Brewery in Netheravon for the sale of Great Bustard Ale, a special brew from which Mr Andersen contributes a sum to the project from the sale of each bottle.

A local cheese producer is also contributing a percentage from the sale of each Bustard and Mustard Cheese he sells.

But Mrs Waters said the long-term future for the project is more hopeful and applications for significant amounts of funding are being drawn up.

Also membership of the Great Bustard Group is steadily growing, though the cost of membership has had to be doubled to £20 a year as the previous £10 a year did little more than cover printing and postage of the newsletter Otis.

Currently, six Great Bustards remain in the wild on the Plain from last year's batch of 28 released at a site near Pewsey.

Anyone wishing to become a member of the Great Bustard Group should phone (01722) 710779, e-mail Wbustard@aol.com