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A Good Quality Redleg

Are you ready for the trapping season ahead?

It’s always worth being reminded of the legislation you or your employees are working under, but making sure everyone is doing the job as effectively as possible and working to the highest standards is also just as important. From large commercial operations to small DIY syndicates, showing due d...

Muirburn: GWCT Scotland sends open letter to Minister

By Felix Meister, D.Phil., Advisor Scotland On Monday 26 January 2026, GWCT Scotland sent an open letter to the Scottish Minister of Agriculture and Connectivity, Jim Fairlie MSP, which sets out our views on muirburn licensing and peatland management in the context of the Wildlife Management and ...

New Countryside Stewardship Scheme: what it means for farmers

Defra has unveiled the new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) scheme, a key part of its Environmental Land Management (ELM) initiative. This scheme is designed to help farmers and land managers deliver environmental benefits while supporting sustainable food production. Here's what you ne...

Thank you for attending this year’s GWCT Upland Game Conference

Thank you to all to all those who met in February at Barnard Castle for the 2025 Upland Game Conference. The overall message was clear: to safeguard a future for grouse moor management, upland estates across England and Scotland must work together and do their best to capture as much data as poss...

An update on Gamebird releasing licensing for SACs and SPAs in England

Defra will shortly publish an updated GL43 licence and guidance for 2025 for the release of gamebirds on and within 500m of areas that are Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), but not Special Protection Areas (SPAs). Defra Ministers have not approved general licence GL45 (SPAs and buffers) to be...

GWCT response to government announcement on a lead shot ban

As the UK’s leading wildlife research charity, GWCT has consistently encouraged the shooting community to move from lead ammunition to alternatives on the basis that the scientific evidence shows it has a toxic effect on wildlife. In 2019, the Trust joined other organisations in calling on the se...

Raptor conservation success should be recognised despite the unacceptable crimes of a few

The GWCT condemns the illegal killing of all birds of prey and so the RSPB’s Birdcrime Report, which records 1,344 incidents of the illegal killing of raptors in 15 years, makes for depressing reading. Sadly, the criminal acts of a minority bring gamekeepers into disrepute. By doing so, they clou...

The Glorious 12th - prospects for the coming season and why this is important

Written by Kathy Fletcher, Phil Warren, Felix Meister and Henrietta Appleton What the grouse counts tell us about this season’s prospects In July and August, GWCT staff and their pointing dogs revisited study sites across the North of England and Scotland to count red grouse. After the pair count...

Snaring banned in Scotland from Monday 25th November

By Dr Nick Hesford, Head of Advisory, GWCT Scotland A ban on snaring, introduced as part of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, will commence on Monday 25 November 2024. This means that, from this date, it will be an offence to set a snare in Scotland for the purpose of kill...