2025

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.

In July and August, GWCT staff and their pointing dogs revisited study sites across the North of England and Scotland to count red grouse. After the pair counts in the spring, which aim to determine the number of breeding pairs, these brood counts in July aim to estimate the breeding success. The current monitoring regime extends over 21 sites in England and 24 sites in Scotland. 

In the spring of this year the Upland Research Team in northern England returned to a project that previously ran in 2022 and 2023. The project looks at the maternal condition of red grouse and which factors affect their subsequent breeding success. Red grouse tend to breed quite well, however, after poor breeding years in 2021and 2024, we were eager to pick this project up again.

Crashes in grouse populations in recent years have highlighted the need to better understand grouse population dynamics and the factors that currently influence these dramatic declines. 

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 introduced a new licensing scheme for making muirburn in Scotland. Scottish Government have confirmed that the new will come into effect on 01 January 2026.

Over the past 2-3 years, we have spent much time highlighting to ministers the increasing risk of wildfire to our natural environment. Our concerns are that the current direction of land management policy, particularly in the uplands, is exacerbating this through increasing the fuel load.

One of the UK’s most prestigious car dealers, Lookers has generously pledged to give £100 to GWCT when a member or supporter of the Trust requests the donation on purchasing a Land Rover. 

There are currently calls for the introduction of a closed season for brown hares through both a private bill by Baroness Helic and a parliamentary petition, which has received a government response. This indicates that the government supports such an initiative but needs a primary legislative vehicle to facilitate it.

It’s hard to think of good news stories within the Welsh farming sector right now – two cases of avian influenza have been confirmed, bluetongue threatens, and the inheritance tax on farms is at the forefront of farmers’ minds as we now enter show season.

Across the country, we witness a variety of pheasant release pens in all shapes and sizes. GWCT research has shown that the release environment will have a significant impact on the return rate of birds. Therefore, attention to detail is paramount to get the birds off to the best possible start.