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Participation in an annual nationwide survey of farmland birds has more than doubled. Britain’s farmers and gamekeepers have shown their long-term commitment to conservation alongside productive land-use by completing this year’s GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count in record numbers.

“We must use scientific evidence to convey to the general public the increased benefit to flora and fauna that occurs when managing land for game well,” believes Alex Keeble, newly appointed Game and Wildlife Advisor at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT). In his new role Alex, as a former gamekeeper, is well-placed to provide advice on game management, conservation and identifying biodiversity gain, based on the research produced by the GWCT’s team of 70 scientists.

Following our involvement in the research and subsequent roll-out of a methodology for counting mountain hares at night approved by NatureScot, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is pleased to be part of the project group now seeking to extend recording nationally to help inform conservation efforts.

A new collaboration aims to show how farmers can work together to achieve the recovery of some of the UK’s most threatened farmland bird species, including grey partridge, curlew and lapwing. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) is working with a group of Shropshire farmers to establish the Corvedale Farmland Wildlife Project, which will put farmland conservation techniques based on the Trust’s extensive research into practice on the ground.

A year on from a joint statement about moving away from using lead in shotguns to shoot game, the GWCT is keen to know if your habits have changed and whether you had tested the alternatives.

As the five-year transition towards sustainable ammunition continues, it is to be welcomed that large parts of the shooting community have recognised the need for change.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) - the UK's leading wildlife research charity - has launched a new online fundraising challenge to help raise money for its vital conservation work.

The GWCT is offering undergraduate students the opportunity to work in real-life conservation research. Each year the Trust hosts students studying ecology, conservation and computer science-related degrees for one-year placements as part of their degrees. Students work alongside some of the leading scientists in their subjects on important game and wildlife conservation research.

The Julian Gardner Awards, run by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, is inviting amateur photographers to submit their images of the British countryside to the 2021 competition.

A recently published study into the breeding and dispersal of capercaillie in Strathspey undertaken over four years from 2016-2019 has concluded that, without further managed landscape-scale intervention to improve breeding success, it is likely that the already threatened species will continue to decline.