Blogs

The GWCT has run a game shoot at Loddington since 1993, utilising the skills of a gamekeeper to carry out supplementary feeding, habitat management and predation control. The ability to carry out these tasks has enabled us to build on our research of songbird and brown hare populations, focusing on how game management techniques can influence the breeding success of these species.

The suggestion that the solution to the “Nature Crisis” is through further SSSI designation is a flawed concept. Many of the existing SSSI sites are already not meeting their conservation objectives – simply adding more will not help.

Marcus Jansen, Executive Director of Schöffel Country, presented a cheque for £24,226 to Alastair Leake, director of the GWCT’s Allerton Project, at the Trust’s flagship demonstration farm in Loddington, Leicestershire.

The GWCT’s Allerton Project demonstration farm has joined the Central England branch of the Environmental Farmers Group.

In this blog, Joe Stanley, Head of Sustainable Farming at the GWCT Allerton Project, explores why cutting agri-environment schemes like the Countryside Stewardship Capital Grant is a shortsighted move. He highlights how these cuts erode farmers’ trust, delay critical environmental progress, and risk pushing agriculture toward unsustainable intensification. Joe argues that investing in nature-friendly farming is essential for achieving climate, biodiversity, and food security goals, warning that failing to do so now will lead to far greater costs in the future.

Joe Stanley shares his transformative journey at the Allerton Project, advocating sustainable farming practices, addressing obstacles to adoption, and emphasising the need for greater support across the food supply chain.

Professor Chris Stoate looks back on the Allerton Project’s achievements as he steps down as its Head of Research.

The annual monitoring of breeding songbirds at the Allerton Project now represents a long-term dataset spanning 33 years. Overall songbird numbers remain around 70% higher than they were at the start of the project in 1992.

Open Farm Sunday has been taking place in June every year since 2006, and this year the GWCT took part in several events across the country. The day provides an opportunity for farmers to share their fabulous work with all ages, by opening their farms to the general public, and showcasing the many goods and services they provide.

I recently returned from the biennial EURAF European Agroforestry Conference in the Czech Republic. My train from Vienna was cancelled because of exceptionally severe flooding in Austria and southern Germany so that I arrived home a day late. It was a relatively minor inconvenience. The flooding resulted in fatalities, river levels rising to their highest level in a century, and the Danube being closed to shipping.