Blogs

Defra will shortly publish an updated GL43 licence and guidance for 2025 for the release of gamebirds on and within 500m of areas that are Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), but not Special Protection Areas (SPAs). 

It is important, now more than ever, that land managers are able to demonstrate to policy makers and the public the conservation value of the management activities that preserve our rare habitats.

The GWCT runs a Shoot Biodiversity Assessment service to help farms, estates and game managers highlight where wildlife is benefiting from the shoot, identify any areas where there may be potential negative impacts, and work to improve them without affecting the running of the shoot.

The GWCT Advisory Services in Scotland offer Muirburn Planning Services to assist estates in obtaining the right muirburn licences. We have developed spatial datasets over several years through collaboration with estates. These datasets operate at a much finer scale than NatureScot’s Peatland Map and take into account other environmental factors important for planning muirburn.

The GWCT’s annual Game Conference is promising to deliver an excellent line-up of speakers and a day packed with insightful and informative talks. This year’s event will take place on Tuesday 18 March at the charity’s headquarters at Fordingbridge in the New Forest.

We’re running three full-day courses across the country, covering fox control, corvid control and tunnel trapping for small mammals.

General Licences for 2025 were issued by NatureScot in December 2024 and are in effect as of 1 January 2025.

On 16th December 2024, NatureScot announced the automatic extension of trap registrations until 31 December 2025. This gives registered trappers time to prepare for the new Wildlife Trap Licence under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024

Following the outstanding success of our autumn training courses, with over 400 certificates issued, we’re thrilled to announce new training dates for February 2025. 

Defra has unveiled the new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) scheme, a key part of its Environmental Land Management (ELM) initiative.