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BBC Springwatch highlights how the hard work of the Martin Down Farmer Cluster and the GWCT is making a difference for wildlife, soil and water

Vital to get peatland and upland heath management right: Our letter to The Guardian

Dear Editor, In an article on national parks failing nature (13 September 2024), your Environment Editor referred to the very best of nature being protected through SSSI designation and reported on the poor condition of many sites across England. The article stated that “The main causes of SSSIs ...

GWCT Allerton Project begins groundbreaking field drainage trial

Joe, Stanley, Head of Sustainable Farming, Allerton Project As a farmer I have always been fascinated by field drainage systems; invisible networks of drainage channels running underneath much of our farmland carrying away excess water to field-edge ditches, thence away to streams and rivers. In ...

Wild bird species continue to decline - “Wild? I was absolutely livid!”

By Henrietta Appleton, GWCT Policy Officer (England) Wild bird populations continue to decline as demonstrated by Government statistics released on 12th November. We have used the graphs for breeding farmland, woodland, water and wetland and upland birds generated by these statistics many times ...

How our Loddington Shoot demonstrates best practice

By Alex Keeble, Central England Game & Wildlife Advisor The Allerton Project, established in 1992, is a research and demonstration farm managed by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust at Loddington, Leicestershire and covers approximately 320 hectares. The farm at Loddington was a beque...

Optimising your pheasant release pens

By Alex Keeble, Central England Game & Wildlife Advisor Travelling across the country, I witness a variety of pheasant release pens in all shapes and sizes; from temporary top-netted pens releasing a hundred or so pheasant poults to larger, open-topped pens. Release pens should provide a saf...

Schöffel Country’s giveback campaign raises £24,226 for the GWCT

Marcus Jansen, Executive Director of Schöffel Country, presented a cheque for £24,226 to Alastair Leake, director of the GWCT’s Allerton Project, at the Trust’s flagship demonstration farm in Loddington, Leicestershire. The donation was for the total raised by the autumn giveback campaign whereby...

Walking among ground nesting birds: where the earth is both a cradle and a battlefield.

Written by Jayna Connelly, Science Communicator Where do birds live? Many still imagine robins in hedgerows or owls in hollow trunks. But waders, gamebirds, warblers, buntings, pipits, chats, larks, wagtails, nightjars, waterfowl, gulls, terns, even raptors like short‑eared owls - all of them are...

Collaboration is key to stop the extinction of wild Atlantic salmon

Experts believe we can stop wild salmon from going extinct in our rivers – but we need to act now and we need to work together on a catchment scale. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and others have been monitoring wild Atlantic salmon numbers on the River Frome in Dorset for more...

Our MPs' briefing for the parliamentary debate on banning driven grouse shooting

The GWCT policy team has briefed MPs ahead of the parliamentary debate triggered by the Wild Justice petition to ban driven grouse shooting. The petition gained more than 100,000 signatures required to prompt a debate, which will take place on Monday 30 June. The wording on the petition, which wi...