GWCT News Blog

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.

If we want to stop the curlew going the way of many other birds, such as the corncrake and the nightjar, we are going to need Defra to allow landowners to resume protecting the curlew’s young on their most important breeding grounds.

With temperatures warming and the days getting longer, breeding Lapwing will shortly be back in the Avon Valley. We have been a busy team this winter, establishing 2 new breeding wader hotspot sites and monitoring wintering waterfowl and waders. So, before we get into the 2019 season, we thought it would make sense to reflect on 2018.

As we draw ever closer to leaving the European Union and reinventing our environmental schemes, much has been said about the intricate details of how much support farmers receive, where it comes from and what it rewards. Paperwork, prescription and perfect timing.

Waders For Real Ecologist Clive Bealey outlines the importance of monitoring the vegetation where the project is taking place.