Thrilled to be informed that Great Bustard Gin won two Gold Medals at the internationally renowned Gin Guide Awards 2024. Best Contemporary Gin & Best Martini Cocktail. #theginguide #GGA24 #gin #ginoclock #ginandtonic #downtondistillery #wiltshire #martini #greatbustard

We are delighted to receive confirmation that His Majesty King Charles will continue his patronage of the Great Bustard Group. The King has long been a supporter of the project, becoming patron during his role as HRH Prince of Wales.

We were lucky to get a good view of this female Bustard whilst she was foraging. The leg ring identifies her as Red 75. This bird was rescued as an egg from Spain and released on Salisbury Plain in 2019. We have received sightings of her up in Oxfordshire over previous years

Although nesting is late this year, we've now found more females nesting than in any previous year. The rising number is due to the increasing maturity of these long lived birds, the use of a thermal drone for effective nest searching and strengthening relations with farmers.

Today we caught a glimpse of a chick, probably around 5-7 days old. The mother appears to be unmarked by either a leg ring or wing tag, so it is highly likely she herself is also a wild reared bird.

Few snaps from today with The Great Bustard Group Great Bustard Group super views of 22 birds our guests loved it, so did we! Highly recommended. Redstart, Whinchat, & Hobby too.

Now the crops are now largely off the Bustards can be seen feeding on the stubble fields around the edges of Salisbury Plain. The males are starting to form their Droves and are also busy preening as they complete their moult.

Our Open Day returns on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th September, between 9am and 4pm at Enford Village Hall. SN9 6DD. Entry to the venue is free. We will also run ticketed Land Rover tours to see the birds, which can be booked in advance online: store.greatbustard.org/book-online

We recently welcomed the Countryfile team onto the Plain to learn more about Great Bustards and the project. We will be featuring in their episode on Sunday evening, all about conservation, farming and military training on Salisbury Plain. (19.00, BBC1).

We have now opened up our visits diary for 2025, 100% of the proceeds of these visits go straight to the GBG, you are making a direct contribution to securing the future of this magnificent bird when you support these visits. greatbustard.org/visit/

Over the last couple of weeks we have begun to see some movement from the Bustards, as they start to settle down into their wintering droves. We had a magnificent view of the birds earlier this week as they appreciated a brief moment of sunshine. Picture courtesy of Cindy Howells

Earlier this week Purple 5 was seen grazing in a field of oil seed rape, he is one of our eldest Great Bustards at 17 years old. He was brought over to the UK after been rescued as an egg (from sileage cutting) in Russia in 2007.

We have been treated to some brilliant views of the Bustards this week,one field boasting an impressive 24 birds.The birds are forming their larger winter droves and with the short crops,it makes it a great time to come and visit the project. Book here - store.greatbustard.org/service-page/d…

Great Bustard Christmas Fair - Guided trips to view Great Bustards, refreshments, watch the formal opening of the GBG visitor centre by Dr Phil Harding DL (from TV’s Time Team) and a chance to get your Christmas shopping done! Book your visits here - store.greatbustard.org/booking-calend…

Thanks to the trackers on some of the juvenile birds, over the last week we have seen flight speeds of up to 32mph,flights lasting around 45 minutes and one bird is following the contours of the land she is on. Drop us any Great Bustard sightings at [email protected].

During the Autumn and Winter months we undertake a lot of our monitoring, looking at numbers of birds and for natural productivity. This morning our thermal scope was very useful when we were caught in a brief snow shower, easily showing us this drove of females.