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The efforts of Bisterne Estate in recovering their breeding lapwing (or pee-wit) was given national acclaim this month, with a “highly commended” ranking at the annual Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation, hosted by His Grace the Duke of Wellington at Apsley House in London.

More birdlife than ever, is how Hedd Pugh describes bird numbers on his beef and sheep farm in the Cwm Cywarch valley of south Snowdonia in Dinas Mawddwy, near Machynlleth last Friday at the Big Farmland Bird Count launch.

“Land managers will clearly be extremely disappointed by components of these changes, which follow consultation last year – and those who are most affected are likely to feel that their circumstances have not been properly taken into account and that SNH is adopting an over-cautious approach.”

Organisations representing the gamebird rearing sector have called for a big push to further reduce the use of antibiotics in 2020, despite having already almost halved use overall since 2016.

As you pack away your guns after another season in the field, the Game & Wildlife Trust (GWCT) urges you not to consign your gamebook to another six months on the shelf. Instead, you should submit records to its National Gamebag Census (NGC) – a strictly confidential registry of species shot or culled in the UK.

“My cows and sheep are integral to boosting wildlife,” says Mr Bowen, who hosted a  Big Farmland Bird Count this week at Pencoedcae Farm, Princetown, near Tredegar.

There are several Big Farmland Bird Count ID workshops taking place across Wales which aim to get farmers and other wildlife enthusiasts ready and up to speed with bird identification before the official 10-day count period from 7-16 February.

With the future management of Britain’s moorland being debated, experts are gathering to discuss what happens next at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s North of England Grouse Seminar run by the Trust’s Upland Team.

These informal talks have been running for three years and have been popular with countryside enthusiasts, farmers, birdwatchers and members of the public eager to learn more about rural affairs.

Standard setting and training organisation, BASIS, and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) have joined forces to provide the first best practice qualification of its kind for the game sector.