Let's bring back The Bustard Inn on Salisbury Plain urges conservation 'cult hero' Prof Sir John Lawton

                                                    

Great bustard - reintroduced on Salisbury Plain

A CALL has come for a commercial building in Wiltshire to be re-opened as it was in a former life - The Bustard Inn.

According to author John Lawton, the property in Shrewton, near Salisbury Plain, is now "either a therapy centre or a tea room" but was formerly a pub dating from the 17th Century, but later (by 1863) became the HQ of the Old Hawking Club.

The last great bustard had been extirpated in Britain in the 1830s, but has since been reintroduced on the Plain, the species' last domestic stronghold, by a charity, the Great Bustard Group, which, since 1998, had reached the "magic target" of 100 free-flying birds by using stock from Russia and Spain.

In his new book, Inn Search of Birds, Prof Sir John reflects on the species chequered status in Britain and says it would be "very appropriate" to re-open The Bustard Inn as a pub in "celebration" of the 100-target having been achieved.

The York-based author, a vice-president of the RSPB,  is best known as an academic - almost a 'cult hero' in conservation circles on account of his report Making Space for Nature which calls both for more wildlife sites and for them to be "bigger, better and joined up".

But his new book, subtitled Pubs, Peoples and Places, is altogether lighter - an engagingly chatty exploration of bird-related pub names, both of existing hostelries and those that have long gone.

Between 2010 and 2021, he trawled the information on no fewer than 700 pubs, coming up with 117 identifiable species - seven non-specific kinds of birds and four mythical species.

The tone is set in the preface where he writes with touching modesty: "There are many areas in the story of pub birds that I do not understand, so I see Inn Search of Birds as work in progress, to be picked up and re-worked by others to correct my mistakes and add to the sum of human knowledge.

He says his book is "not to be taken too seriously but is meant to be fun and entertaining as well as accurate and informative", adding that it is "also quirky - at least I hope it is".

Inn Search of Birds is published (£18.99) in  paperback by Caithness-based Whittles Publishing (www.whittlespublishing.com).

Witty and informative - Prof Sir John's new book