GWCT News Blog

We are aware of Wild Justice's letter to the Secretary of State about woodcock shooting. The GWCT has undertaken more research into woodcock ecology and conservation than any other organisation in the UK and we will be writing to the Secretary of State with our views on this matter.

The GWCT Wetlands department is studying the breeding ecology of redshank in the Avon Valley and are aiming to discover more about this fascinating bird’s breeding behaviour and ecology.

Earlier this year, British Birds posted a letter by Leo Smith, making various claims not just about the impact of pheasant releasing on curlew, but also about the GWCT. This month, the journal published a response written by our Head of Research, Dr Andrew Hoodless, which we have summarised here.

We respond to a piece in The Field on the subject of shooting woodock.

The plan, launching later this year, sets out how to avoid curlew becoming extinct as breeding bird in Wales by 2033 and the wider benefits to society, benefits for key species of conservation concern and benefits for climate change that flow from management for Curlew.

Please help us work towards better advice and support mechanisms for curlew by sharing your experience through our survey.

Watch this short video produced by The Fieldsports Channel on our Waders for Real project, which aims to reverse the decline of breeding waders in the Avon Valley, with the help of farmers, keepers and land managers.

Spring 2020 has been a very different year for members of the GWCT Wetlands team, as it has been for all of us. 

Curlew Country, which launches its webcam programme once again this week, has done an amazing job in getting boots on the ground – practical, hands-on working with farmers and land managers – to recover these much-loved birds that have almost disappeared from our countryside.

Everyone is worried about curlew in Wales – our breeding population has seen a 62 percent decline over the past 25 years.