Welcome roam: wild bison return to UK – in pictures
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Photographer Alexander Turner captured the moment the first bison to be released into the wild in the UK took their initial steps in Blean Woods, Kent
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The day before the bisons’ release in Blean Woods, the animals find their feet in an enclosure. The three bison are an older female from the Highland wildlife park in Scotland and two young females from Fota wildlife park in Cork, Ireland
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A chance to survey their new home in Kent’s Blean Woods
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Moving home can be a tiring business
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The bison act as ‘ecosystem engineers’. Rolling around in dust baths helps create more open ground
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Bison graze on bark, which kills off some trees, opening up the landscape
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Having fun in their new surroundings
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At first the females will have a five hectare (12 acre) double-fenced area to explore, but this will increase to 50 hectares when a young bull from Germany arrives in mid-August
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West Blean and Thornden Woods nature reserve is one of the largest areas of ancient woodland in the UK
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The bars on the pen are pulled back and the bison are released
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Wild bison last roamed the UK more than 6,000 years ago
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The three female bison were fitted with tracking collars before being released so that they can be monitored by the bison rangers
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Venturing into the woods for the first time
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“I cannot wait to see how the bison start to shape the Blean over a five-, 10-, 20-year period as they settle into their new home and start throwing their weight around,” said Tom Gibbs, one of the two bison rangers
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The £1.1m Wilder Blean project was funded by the People’s Postcode Lottery
