Press Releases - August 2021

While unseasonal weather has played havoc with this year’s harvest, we should also stop to think of its impact on wildlife, according to experts at the GWCT. The grey partridge, known by conservationists as the ‘barometer of the countryside’, is one species likely to be affected by a dry spring and a dull, wet July and August.

Now there is a chance to safeguard the British countryside by Walking for Wildlife – a sponsored walk, any route, any distance, during September, in aid of the vital research carried out by the GWCT.

The annual Fisheries Research Review shows signs of hope for the long-term future of salmon in the Dorset river. Time will tell how many of these fish return to the river from the North Atlantic in 2021 and 2022, but experts say signs are as positive as they have been for some time.

Wednesday 4 August is International Owl Awareness Day. Barn owls are amongst the most enigmatic and beloved of British birds, and scientists at the Owl Box Initiative are trying to understand them better.

A ground-breaking project to unlock the environmental potential of hedgerows has been given the go-ahead with a government grant of £81,561. The scheme will develop a Hedgerow Carbon Code, which will encourage hedgerow habitat improvements and provide a tool to calculate the carbon capture potential of hedgerows.