In the News

In Scotland
The 2010 GWCT Scottish Game Fair attracted a huge amount of printed and broadcast media interest this year. As well as a good turnout of journalists and photographers at the event itself, the coverage received before, during and after the Fair was comprehensive. The Fair is also an excellent promotional platform for the Trust itself with our ownership clearly evident in coverage we received. Some of the media hits we achieved were: BBC Radio Scotland Good Morning Scotland and Out of Doors (twice), Oban FM, Perth FM, Heartland FM, Radio Tay, STV news, Press & Journal, Dundee Courier, Perthshire Advertiser, Scotsman, Daily Express, Scottish Farmer, Herald, Shooting Times, Scottish Field and many local weekly titles. Enquiries are still coming in for photographs and editorial about the Fair, which has become one of the premier rural events in Scotland.

Education - Beating records with handprints
To help engage with a younger audience and to make them aware of the issues facing the countryside, this summer’s educational activities have literally been ‘hands on’ workshops as Scottish HQ bids to break the Guinness World Record TM for the largest collage of handprints. The challenge started at the end of June at the Royal Highland Show within the Royal Highland Education Trust’s excellent Discovery Centre and continued at our own Scottish Game Fair. This interactive workshop to complete a picture of a giant grey partridge proved to be a real hit with children, teachers and parents who applauded the initiative which aimed to draw attention to the plight of the grey partridge and that of other species of conservation concern. The media also picked up on the story with articles in the Courier, Press and Journal and interviews for Radio Tay and BBC Radio Scotland ‘Out of Doors’.

The challenge will continue over the coming months and we hope members of the Trust will lend a hand. Katrina Candy, Press and Education (Scotland) explained: “As the current record is 30,006, we have a long way to go to smash the record and so we will continue to collect handprints until we beat the record. Each handprint has to be cut out from paper and decorated – preferably to look like partridge plumage. We’re asking Trust supporters and members to send in batches of handprints to our Scottish HQ – preferably in large quantities with the number of handprints clearly stated so that we can tally them up.

“Following the summer recess we will be writing to schools and other organisations to get them involved. Once completed, the collage will be the focus of a press launch and hopefully attract plenty of media attention for the Trust.”

Please send your handprints to: GWCT Scottish HQ, The Control Tower, Perth Airport, Scone, Perth, PH2 6PL.

In England
NEWSFLASH
At the beginning of July we marked the end our four-year water vole project on the River Dore in Herefordshire. The research shows that it is possible to save water voles if American mink are controlled and the media were particularly interested that we highlighted the cost implications of successful conservation projects. We had excellent media coverage, including a piece on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme and the Radio 4  Saving Species programme. Eight minutes into Saving Species, Brett Westwood looks at the success of the GWCT Mink Raft in saving a species in trouble: Click here to listen again to the programme - click forward eight minutes. We will include more news about this project next month.

Sporting Gun featured a four page spread on the Upland Predation Experiment which proved that predator control is key in helping threatened waders and other ground-nesting upland birds to rear young successfully. The Field and Prospect also featured this new research.

A recent study by the GWCT has revealed that the rapidly declining rare black grouse are breeding three times better in fields where cattle were grazing with sheep than in those grazed by sheep only, because of the greater abundance of insects which young chicks need to survive. This story was widely featured by a huge number of local northern newspapers such as the Press & Journal, the Yorkshire Post, AOL News, Northern Echo, the Bexhill Observer, the Petersfield Post, the Scarborough Evening News, the Shropshire Star and numerous others, as well as by many internet media sites and the Press Association News Wire.

As an incentive to get involved in partridge conservation in the Durham and Northern Dales area, we award a prestigious annual grey partridge trophy to the farm or estate that has done the most to help restore this species in their region. The 2010 winner was John Boon, from near Beamish in County Durham and this was featured in Shooting Times, the Teesdale Mercury, Chester Le Street Advertiser and several other local newspapers.

Field sports enthusiasts are being urged to sign up to a new shoot insurance package launched by GunsOnPegs and underwritten by Lloyds of London. An added benefit to members of the scheme is the knowledge that 50 per cent of profits will be donated to the vital game research being undertaken by the GWCT and this article appeared in Shooting Times.

Peter Thompson, our Farmland Biodiversity Advisor, showed farmers at a north Hampshire farm, how to set up wildlife habitats and avoid the re-introduction of compulsory set-aside land. This was reported in several local papers in the Hampshire area such as the Basingstoke Gazette, the Andover Advertiser and the Romsey Advertiser.

Farm Business featured the recycling initiative being undertaken by the Allerton Recycling Scheme at our farm in Loddington, whereby the Project collects waste such as pesticide containers, black plastic and fertiliser bags then sorts and bales the waste for onward recycling.

More than 200 people entered the popular Campaign Trail competition organised by us on our stand at Cereals recently in an effort to further raise the profile of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment. The top prize was a delicious lunch at Le Gavroche in London and this was reported in Country Life.

To look at our latest press releases click here.