GWCT News Blog

As the Scottish Government has declared that muirburn will only be permitted under licence from NatureScot, last year we launched our Muirburn Advisory Service to support estates in developing and monitoring simple, user-friendly muirburn plans.

Mike Swan laments the lack of young people in our sport, and asks “How do we recruit the younger generation?”.

This week (12th to 18th July) is Bees Needs Week, so what better time than to think about supporting bees and other pollinators on the shoot?

GWCT Scotland first started using the Epicollect5 App at our demonstration farm in Aberdeenshire to maintain predator control and habitat management data. This type of information gathering paved the way for thinking about how we can further equip keepers and land managers with a simple, effective tool to record a variety of management information.

Gathering data on farms and shoots to demonstrate the influence of practical habitat and wildlife management on the status of our precious flora and fauna has never been more important. Join us via Zoom on Monday afternoon for a free seminar.

On 12th May 2021 Defra published their licence to release gamebirds on European sites and within 500m of their boundary (GL43). Natural England would like to remind you that they are offering an online Advice Service to help shoot managers and gamekeepers decide whether they can operate under the conditions of the general licence or will require an individual licence for the release of gamebirds.

GWCT Head of Education Mike Swan urges caution when it comes to overusing the strimmer, which can easily result in exposing the carefully hidden nest of a pheasant, partridge or duck.

The big new story in agri-environment schemes and farmland conservation is farmer clusters – groups of neighbouring farmers working together to deliver landscape scale conservation in a co-ordinated way. So, why not shoot clusters as well?

GWCT Head of Education Mike Swan looks at what's involved when creating a new pheasant shoot from scratch.

Defra have published their long awaited General Licence for gamebird releasing on European Protected Sites. Releasing pheasants and red-legged partridges in the protected sites and within a 500m buffer around them will be licensed for an interim period of four years whilst Defra and NE undertake work to assess impacts of gamebird management on individual sites.