July

In the first of a new series on Working Conservationists, Joe Dimbleby visits beef farmer James Mulleneux whose shoot is helping to restore woodland with advice from the GWCT.

Our fox-tagging work in the Avon Valley got underway just as the bitterly cold ‘Beast from the East’ hit towards the back-end of February, and it’s just drawn to a close amid one of the hottest, driest summers we’ve experienced for years. 

Do you know a lot about Shooting and Conservation?

If so, why not put your ‘knowledge’ to the ultimate test in a Who Wants to be a Conservationaire quiz at this year’s Game Fair.

Bees’ Needs Week is an annual event coordinated by Defra and delivered in partnership with several charities, businesses, conservation groups and academic institutions to help raise awareness of bees and other pollinators. Events to celebrate insects are taking place across England from 9-15^th July.

In written evidence to a 2016 Parliamentary Committee, the RSPB stated that moorland drains were “cut in the 60s and 70s to improve grazing” for sheep. It is bizarre that they should now suggest that gamekeepers dug these drains for their grouse (RSPB accuses gamekeepers of deliberately drying land, July 5). 

As we draw ever closer to leaving the European Union and reinventing our environmental schemes, much has been said about the intricate details of how much support farmers receive, where it comes from and what it rewards. Paperwork, prescription and perfect timing.

The decline in Britain’s songbird numbers was the topic of a House of Lords debate on 28th June, with several members acknowledging the important work the GWCT has done. 

GWCT Cymru News Roundup

By Sue Evans, GWCT Cymru Director

It's the end of an era for enthusiatic chairman, Ian Coghill. After eight years at the helm, he shares his thoughts about the GWCT with Joel Holt. 

Our response to a recent piece in The Sunday Times concerning the Saddleworth Moor fire, in which RSPB Senior Uplands Policy Officer, Pat Thompson is quoted.