What the heck is a lek?
Males great bustards perform spectacular courtship displays, gathering at a ‘lek’ or small display ground to try to impress the females.
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George Pitman had heard the story that there was a tunnel from Haughton, in which the monks of Milton Abbas had hidden their treasure, but he’d always taken it as just that – a story. One stormy night, as he was crossing the hill back to Dunbury – and wishing himself already home – he saw a light. It shone from a tunnel going into the hill. As he walked in, the tunnel widened into a cavern, and in the middle of that cavern was a great scaly dragon sitting asleep on a pile of treasure. George could do with a bit of that! But as he reached for a piece of gold the dragon’s eye cracked open and George fled. No one believed him in the pub, and even less so the next day when they all trooped out to the hill and found … nothing. No entrance, no tunnel, and certainly no dragon. Was it just a story after all?
Males great bustards perform spectacular courtship displays, gathering at a ‘lek’ or small display ground to try to impress the females.
The great bustard has a dignified slow walk but tends to run when disturbed, rather than fly.
The hen-bird on display at The Salisbury Museum was one of the last great bustards to be eaten in the town!