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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Fire! Brownsea Castle was burning! Three centuries of history going up in smoke! All thanks to dodgy electrics in 1896. Some of the newer inhabitants knew what to do – swim! Just five years before, Major Kenneth Balfour had bought the estate and introduced deer all the way from Japan – sika deer. Now there are thousands of the deer in Poole Harbour too. But did you know that these deer are messengers of the gods? Once a sika deer carried a god to Nara in Japan and they’ve been considered sacred ever since. What gods might they meet here?
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!