GWCT News Blog

Rodenticide residues have been found in 88% of barn owls by the latest annual surveillance for the UK Rodenticide Stewardship Regime, operated by the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use. The previous year’s figure was 87%.

When you twin evidence-based research with the skills and passion of an individual or group of people on the ground, the results can be staggering. Through our Working Conservationist initiative, we have seen first-hand what that combination can achieve. 

Megan Rowland, a deer manager from the Highlands, was chosen as the overall winner of the INEOS Grenadier Countryside Champion Award 2022, coordinated by GunsOnPegs. 

The UK supports five species of owl and last week, as I heard the distinctive ‘hooo, hu, huhuhuhooo’ of a male tawny owl (Stix aluco) on the site of the GWCT’s headquarters, I wanted to learn more.

With the shooting season now over, the first signs of breeding are already upon us. So, those who hope for a significant contribution from wild bred game should be making a start on the spring predation control programme.

In the latest Birds of Conservation Concern review, 14 of the 26 farmland birds in the UK have been assigned to the Red List¹. The reasons behind the declines in these species are numerous, however one of particular relevance to seed-eating birds in Wales is the loss of mixed farming. 

With the advent of the £5 poult around the corner, Richard Leach of UK game feed manufacturer Keepers Choice, looks at what’s behind the price hike and what it means for the sector.

The Owl Box Initiative is supporting National Nest Box Week by highlighting the importance of providing nest boxes for a range of bird species across our landscapes. 

During the 2021 breeding season, the Owl Box Initiative’s monitoring team began box checks in May and continued, at occupied boxes, until the last chicks were ringed in October. The longer breeding season was, in part, due to a number of barn owl pairs across our study areas producing a second brood.

Speaking at this year’s Oxford Farming Conference, NFU President Minette Batters hailed the positive impact of Britain’s farmers, describing them as working conservationists and urging politicians to remember the people who lay at the heart of a better future.