Blogs

Fungi flourished in more ways than one in 2025, with more global policies supporting the kingdom worldwide, as well as a booming year for fruiting bodies. Despite all this fungal success, there is still so much to learn and understand about their biology.

This week, in line with its manifesto promise, the government has announced its new Animal Welfare Strategy, setting out plans for ‘generational reforms’ to animal welfare it hopes will help protect wild, farmed, and companion animals across the UK.

Our experts will be studying the detail of this new strategy and providing a full response in due course. In the meantime, we wanted to provide some initial thoughts on the implications for introducing a close season for hares and limiting use of snare devices.

Tree planting is often seen as a universal fix for climate change, biodiversity loss and even economies via carbon credits. But ask any conservation scientist at the GWCT and they’ll tell you that it is just not that simple.

When I first decided to take part in a placement year back in my first year of university, I spent hours scrolling through the list of available roles. I read countless descriptions, but nothing felt quite right – until I came across the GWCT.

Unlike some of our more celebrated raptors, kestrels often slip under the radar, which makes understanding their needs, and finding practical ways to support them, all the more important.

One important way of supporting these birds has been through the installation of nest boxes, providing them with suitable and safe roosting and nesting sites. Protecting and monitoring these birds therefore relies heavily on the support of farmers, landowners, and dedicated volunteers.

Thanks to Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme, we have helped create a safer haven for beach-nesting birds on the North Solent National Nature Reserve in Hampshire. With our partners, we’ve transformed a 1.7ha area of scrub-grassland into an open expanse of coastal vegetated shingle and this tailor-made ‘hotel for birds’ opened for business in March this year.

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition and congratulations to our fantastic winners and runners-up! We wanted to see your unique interpretation of ‘Nature’s Gift,’ and you certainly delivered! From majestic birds to cheeky mammals, and stunning scenery, we were blown away by the range and variety of entries.

Spring has well and truly arrived over the last few weeks. The hillsides are a lot noisier with the return of curlew and lapwing. The black grouse are less in need of shelter with the weather cheering up, so sightings in the woodlands have dropped off, but there’s plenty of other animals to distract us whilst we’re out.

It has been a whirlwind of a placement year and I am grateful to have taken part in such fun research. The Uplands Team is fantastic, and I would recommend this placement, or job role, to anyone who has the opportunity to do it.