2026

Many of us will not be direct custodians of the land but we have an empathy with the rhythms and cycles of the rural way of life, having lived and worked within it. Given this, it is with great sadness that I feel the rural way of life is at risk from the urban-centric focus of our national and international policies.

"I was disappointed to read The Telegraph’s take on the Baseline Agricultural Training programme being delivered by the Allerton Project, especially the comments of Shadow Defra Secretary, Victoria Atkins under whose government a highly successful pilot was run (‘Clueless’ civil servants sent to farms to learn how they work, 7^th February)."

With nearly 70% of Scotland’s land used for agriculture, farmers will play a key role in addressing the biodiversity and climate crises. In order to document what habitats are present and their condition, NatureScot has been developing tools to help farmers to quantify their habitats and how they are performing.

Every year when most of our farmland wildlife is hidden away, our scientists are faced with a wall of samples collected over summer to provide deeper insights in to the dynamics of biodiversity in different farming systems. 

The GWCT welcomes the amendment to muirburn legislation as it removes a provision that was not based on scientific evidence. It is our hope that the amended legislation will facilitate carrying out legal muirburn as a conservation tool with vital benefits to blanket-bog management and carbon sequestration.

On Monday 26 January 2026, GWCT Scotland sent an open letter to the Scottish Minister of Agriculture and Connectivity, Jim Fairlie MSP, which sets out our views on muirburn licensing and peatland management in the context of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024.

Across the globe, thousands of people are quietly helping to shape the future of conservation, not through grand gestures, but by taking part in something simple, powerful and increasingly essential: citizen science. 

2026 sees the GWCT’s Big Farmland Bird Count return to its spiritual home of the Allerton Project, the GWCT’s research and demonstration farm on the Leicestershire-Rutland border, where it was originally launched in 2014.

In order to support Scottish participants taking part, the GWCT will be running two free bird ID sessions. These workshops will provide you with the skills required to identify birds you may encounter during the count and how to record them, and will be followed by a short walk to practice your new skills.

In the latest episode of the Countryslide podcast the GWCT's Dr Alastair Leake and director of Schöffel Country Marcus Janssen joined Richard Prideaux and Callum McInerney-Riley to discuss the launch of the 2026 Schöffel Countryside Awards in partnership with the GWCT.