April

In March and early April, GWCT staff commenced the 2025 red grouse monitoring season by carrying out pair counts across Scotland. The results of this year’s pair counts indicate a pronounced decrease compared to 2024

Senior Advisor Mike Swan fears that we are heading towards a situation where well-meaning people will push harder for legislation that would make effective predation control all but impossible, much to the detriment of conservation and biodiversity.

Scientific research, practitioner evidence and environmental accreditation are essential for sustainable game management -- the take home message from GWCT’s lowland gamebird conference.

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). 

Planting hedgerows and beetle banks is a great way of enhancing habitats, but according to Arthur Barraclough at Bright Seeds, the benefits can be multiplied by drilling conservation crops either side of the new wildlife corridor.