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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1/10th scale model of Brown annd May five horsepower steam portable engine, made and donated by Llew Bedder.
The model was built using dimensions taken from a full size Brown and May engine, works number 7838 of 1907, which was subsequently scrapped.
Engines of this type were used on farms, for threshing grain, pumping water and sawing wood. They are known as ‘portable’ because they could be moved from place to place using horses. Considerably cheaper to run than more complex self-propelled traction engines, they were popular on smaller farms and used in developing countries.
Brown and May were agricultural engineers with a large works in Estcourt Street, Devizes, on the site now occupied by Morrisons supermarket. Founded in 1854 they went out of business in 1913. They were particularly well known for engines of this type, of which they made nearly 9,000. Most were exported and the largest markets were in South Africa and Australasia, where a number survive today.
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!