GWCT Wales adivsor Matt Goodall
THE biodiversity benefits of a shoot in Monmouthshire were pointed out during a walk by an advisor from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) Wales.
Matt Goodall, who joined the Trust last year, hosted the walk on Home Farm in Shirenewton with David, Gareth and Huw Adams.
He emphasised the importance of the relationship between the landowner and the shoot in getting results.
He said: “Your shoot has a fantastic opportunity to help the landowner out by delivering increased biodiversity from the game management you undertake.”
“By adopting the GWCT’s three-legged stool principle - habitat provision, predator control and supplementary feeding – the benefits of game management can be magnified for wildlife too. Without one of these ‘legs’, the stool topples over and you lose the outcome.”
Matt also focused on the need to ensure we are delivering a net gain to biodiversity on the land we shoot over, pointing to the PACEC report, ‘The Value of Shooting’, (2014) which states that shooting is involved in the management of two-thirds of the rural land area.’
“This makes me question whether we, as a community, are doing enough when we clearly have a huge potential to positively influence Wales’ biodiversity,” added Matt.
“We need to ask ourselves are we sympathetically managing woodlands and providing game cover? Are we controlling predators through the spring when the benefit is magnified to non-game species? Are we providing supplementary feed post-season through the hungry gap to the benefit of our game birds and songbirds?”
GWCT Wales offers advisory visits and shoot assessments to help you deliver these outcomes on your shoot.
Shortly, it will be rolling out a programme collecting evidence of the fantastic work which is being done in Wales and illustrating how people on the ground are working hard to increase wildlife on their patches.
If you are interested in the work of the GWCT, please contact Matt on 07741 902021 or email on mgoodall@gwct.org.uk
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Notes to editors
The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust – providing research-led conservation for a thriving countryside. The GWCT is an independent wildlife conservation charity which has carried out scientific research into Britain’s game and wildlife since the 1930s. We advise farmers and landowners on improving wildlife habitats. We employ 22 post-doctoral scientists and 50 other research staff with expertise in areas such as birds, insects, mammals, farming, fish and statistics. We undertake our own research as well as projects funded by contract and grant-aid from Government and private bodies. The Trust is also responsible for a number of Government Biodiversity Action Plan species and is lead partner for grey partridge and joint lead partner for brown hare and black grouse.
For information, contact:
Eleanor Williams
Telephone: 07592 025476
Email: press@gwct.org.uk