Press Releases - May 2022

Ahead of the expected publication of the UK’s first National Food Strategy for 70 years, a high-level group of political, scientific and industry leaders is urging the Government to do much more to put scientific rigour and evidence at the heart of Britain’s food and farming policies, warning that a failure to do so could risk sleepwalking the nation into its own food crisis.

Sussex farmers and farm advisors have an opportunity to learn more about the habitat management and conservation techniques that have achieved remarkable farmland wildlife restoration on a tour of Peppering Farm on 10 June.

While bumblebees and honeybees are familiar to many of us, solitary bees are often overlooked. In fact, 90% of the UK’s bee species are actually solitary bees, with around 250 solitary bee species, only 24 bumblebee species, and just one honeybee species.

The results are in for the 2022 GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count. More than 1,900 farmers and land managers overcame challenging conditions to provide a vital snapshot of the health of our cherished farmland birds by taking part in the count, between 4-20 February.

The GWCT is hosting a very exciting Storytelling Festival on the theme Listen to the Land at the 33rd GWCT Scottish Game Fair as part of the national Year of Stories initiative.

Preliminary findings from tracking studies carried out by the SAMARCH research programme show that sea trout from France migrate to the UK coast and vice versa, and that individuals from both France and the UK are sharing similar marine feeding habitat. The results highlight the need for international management of sea trout at sea.

A survey assessing and comparing the performance of shoots across the UK is now open for submissions from shoots of all sizes.

Nature will be protected and enhanced on an unprecedented scale, with the formation of a pioneering new landscape-scale partnership of farmers in the Hampshire Avon Valley.