GWCT News Blog

Yesterday marks a year since the announcement of the consultation on extending the area covered by the heather and grass burning regulations.

Defra has launched a consultation on its proposals to amend the list of birds that can be legally shot outside of a closed season. The proposals include extending the closed season for woodcock and snipe in England and Scotland and removing snipe from the quarry list in Wales.

The government has used the publication of the latest iteration of the Land Use Framework report to announce it is exploring “wider measures such as licensing and any associated conditions for recreational gamebird shooting and release”.

Following Deputy First Minister & Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs Huw Irranca‑Davies MS’ announcement of an independent review of the impacts of released gamebird management, the GWCT welcomes Welsh Government’s commitment to consider both scientific and practitioner evidence.

Joe Stanley was in the auditorium on 24 February for Secretary of State Emma Reynolds’ address to the National Farmers Union’s annual conference in Birmingham.

Many of us will not be direct custodians of the land but we have an empathy with the rhythms and cycles of the rural way of life, having lived and worked within it. Given this, it is with great sadness that I feel the rural way of life is at risk from the urban-centric focus of our national and international policies.

With nearly 70% of Scotland’s land used for agriculture, farmers will play a key role in addressing the biodiversity and climate crises. In order to document what habitats are present and their condition, NatureScot has been developing tools to help farmers to quantify their habitats and how they are performing.

The GWCT welcomes the amendment to muirburn legislation as it removes a provision that was not based on scientific evidence. It is our hope that the amended legislation will facilitate carrying out legal muirburn as a conservation tool with vital benefits to blanket-bog management and carbon sequestration.

This week, in line with its manifesto promise, the government has announced its new Animal Welfare Strategy, setting out plans for ‘generational reforms’ to animal welfare it hopes will help protect wild, farmed, and companion animals across the UK.

Our experts will be studying the detail of this new strategy and providing a full response in due course. In the meantime, we wanted to provide some initial thoughts on the implications for introducing a close season for hares and limiting use of snare devices.

Many of GWCT’s policy messages relate to the benefits of land management and the need for interventions. Land management and associated practices can support policy outcomes in a variety of areas from carbon sequestration protection to nature recovery, sustainable food production, and economic development.