Flag of Wiltshire
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| Name | Bustard Flag |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 3:5 |
| Adopted | 2007 (initial usage) 2009 (official) |
| Designed by | Helen Pocock |
There are three flag designs associated with the English county of Wiltshire. Like the proposed flags of many other counties, two of the three have no official status as they were not designed by the College of Arms. One of the designs, the "Bustard Flag", was approved by a full meeting of the Wiltshire Council on 1 December 2009, as a county flag and subsequently registered with the Flag Institute.
A banner of the arms of the former Wiltshire County Council has been commercially available for many years. It represents the council, rather than Wiltshire as a geographical area. In April 2009, the county council was merged with the old district councils of Wiltshire (Kennet, North Wilts, Salisbury and West Wilts) into a new unitary authority known as Wiltshire Council, and the arms of all of them passed to the successor authority. New green flags were created which have been flown from council buildings around the county, but these flags are not generally available to the public.
The "Bustard Flag" was created by Mike Prior and designed by Helen Pocock, a graphic designer, in 2007. It is partly based on the flag of the Wiltshire County Council, including the alternating stripes of green and white that represent the grassy downs of the county and their chalk underlay. The colours can represent hope, joy and safety (green) and peace (white). Although distinct, the complicated and irregular design has been met with some criticism by flag designers and heraldists.
An image of the great bustard (Otis tarda) stands at the centre of the flag. This bird had been extinct in England since 1832, but is now part of an intensive ten-year breeding programme on Salisbury Plain. Salisbury Plain, at the heart of the county, is one of only two areas in Great Britain in which the great bustard originally lived. On the flag, the male great bustard is depicted in gold on a solid green circle to represent the open grassland. The border of the circle, in six sections alternating green and white, represents the stone circles of Stonehenge and Avebury in the county. The six portions also represent the six surrounding counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Dorset and Somerset.
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