2026

Today marks the coming into effect of the new licences to make muirburn on non-peatland and peatland respectively. This means that, as of today, it is illegal to make muirburn in Scotland unless under a valid licence issued by NatureScot.

The transition to regenerative agriculture is an opportunity for farmers to improve soil health, strengthen resilience and reduce reliance on costly inputs. But what does that transition actually cost, and who should bear the risk?

Over the past two years, the kestrel monitoring project led by Dr Francis Buner set out to improve our understanding of the reasons behind the decline of the species.

As the leading independent, scientific, evidence-based organisation on gamebird management, the GWCT very much looks forward to engaging with Defra over the coming weeks as part of this call for evidence.

A BBC News report from last week rightly celebrates the good news that two broods of three Montagu’s harriers have successfully fledged at a “secret location” in the south of England.

There’s been a total of 16 significant wildfires in Wales covering a total of 10,662 hectares since early May. As I write this eight of these are showing up on real time satellite data as either still burning or have major hotspots indicating that the fire continues to smoulder underground in the peat. 

When people think of bees, they usually picture honeybees in hives or bumblebees buzzing between flowers. Yet most of Britain's bee species live a very different life. Around 70% of our wild bees nest underground, quietly engineering tunnels, chambers and nurseries beneath our feet.

The National Alert over the weekend is welcome in that it acknowledges the threat of wildfire to local communities, businesses and critical infrastructure, not just to environmental assets. 

Last year we applauded NE’s creation of firebreaks on Hatfield Moss as mitigation against identified wildfire risk. It is therefore welcomed that the latest blog by Natural England on reducing wildfire risk references this in the section on the work they are doing on their reserves.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) began collecting and publishing antibiotic usage data for the gamebird sector in 2016, creating the baseline against which the industry’s progress is now tracked. Substantial efforts have followed within the game sector, which has reduced usage by 48% since that baseline year.