Press Releases - 2021

Heavy snow and freezing conditions have hampered land managers’ efforts to complete the annual GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count across much of the UK. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has taken the decision to extend the wildlife survey to enable people to count safely. The event was due to run from 5-14 February, but people can now carry out the count until Sunday 21 February.

The 2021 GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count is underway. From this morning (5 February) until Valentine’s Day, farmers and land managers across the country will be picking up their binoculars and heading to a corner of their land to spend 30 minutes counting birds. And it is not too late to get involved.

Managed burning can be a valuable tool in restoring peatland vegetation, according to a study undertaken by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT). 

“As custodians of the largest songbird habitat in the country, farmers, land managers and gamekeepers play a crucial role in the survival of the UK’s farmland birds,” says Dr Roger Draycott of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust.

The GWCT’s Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC) is pleased to announce two events in Wales to help record what farmland birds are present at this time of year before the official count from February 5-14.

Introducing tree leaves to a sheep’s diet could play an important role in reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions, suggests research presented at this today's Intercropping for Sustainability conference.

IN A CHALLENGING TIME for charities across Britain, premium countrywear specialists Schöffel Country has raised a total of £11,735 for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

Rural organisations are reminding the shooting community of the importance of following the law and government guidance around Covid resitrctions in Wales.

In line with other bodies, GWCT Scotland recommends that the shooting (in compliance with Scottish lockdown rules) of wildfowl and waders should be voluntarily limited from 6 January 2021 until the freezing weather conditions abate.

Funded by Natural Resources Wales Shared Outcome Request in North East Wales - one of seven Area Statements in Wales, a new project aims to raise awareness of methods that can be easily implemented on farms to halt and reverse farmland bird declines.