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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.

Early-career scientists and land managers in need of funding for scientific projects are being invited to apply to the Dick Potts Legacy Fund. The fund was set up in memory of the late internationally recognised British ecologist Dr Dick Potts.

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.

The Curlew Recovery Partnership is a new, exciting and transformative initiative, bringing together all those with an interest in curlew conservation, including land managers, farmers, gamekeepers, policymakers and researchers. They are joining forces to help secure the future of one of England’s most iconic and threatened species, the Eurasian curlew.

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.

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.