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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Is Stonehenge really a memorial to a long-ago massacre? The Saxons tricked the Britons and hundreds died on Salisbury Plain on the Night of the Long Knives. Years later the new king, Ambrosius Aurelianus, commissioned the enchanter Merlin to raise a fitting monument. Merlin knew of a stone circle in Ireland, built by giants who had brought the stones all way from Egypt. They were healing stones – a fitting way to heal the wounds of war between two communities. Merlin went with Uther Pendragon’s army and stole the stones – starting another war! – then, with his art, Merlin danced them up into the air and across Ireland to the waiting boats and then, after they’d crossed the sea, danced them back into a circle on Salisbury Plain.
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!