GWCT News Blog

The government’s ambitious plans for landscape recovery are to be welcomed, but we mustn’t forget the role of people in this.

Earlier this week, Defra gave its response to a petition launched last year arguing that ‘only a proper ban’ will ensure the future of woodcock.

Defra has published updated General Licences for wild bird control in England effective from 1st January 2022 until 31st December 2023.

The Three Legged Stool states you need a suitable habitat, food throughout the life cycle, and then reasonable freedom from predation for birds to flourish.

Environment Secretary, George Eustice MP, has announced the payment rates farmers will receive for the environmental measures they carry out on their land in a new scheme called the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).

Which of our various quarry birds is the most intelligent do you think? I’m not at all sure anyone really knows the answer, or indeed how it is that you assess this.

If you read the headlines around the recent Birds of Conservation Concern report, you’d have been rightly worried about the fate of many of our much-loved bird species.

The Owl Box Initiative is delighted to be celebrating it’s one year anniversary and after a busy year for everyone involved, and particularly for the breeding barn owls across our study sites, we thought we would look back on an exciting year of conservation, monitoring and engagement.

Planting trees is very fashionable these days, and most people think it is good conservation practice. Aside from replacing what our ancestors felled, there is also a halo of virtue because of carbon capture and global warming. Like all such fashions, however, there are specific considerations that can make a big difference to how much good is being done.

I suspect you had to read the title twice before continuing! The misinformation starts with the term “peatland burning ”. Let’s be clear from the outset – moorland managers undertake controlled burning to manage heather and implicitly not to burn the peat.