2021

GWCT Cymru are very much involved in working with farmers in Wales and soil health is firmly on the agenda in several ongoing projects across the country.

Pheasant release pens should contain a mosaic of evenly distributed habitat providing a stimulating environment for the poults to acclimatise themselves before being released.

When simulated shoots first emerged no one could have predicted just how popular the concept would become. Despite the large following, there are still many game shots who profess to not enjoy simulated days. Why is this when simulated game days are meant to simulate a driven day?

Seems a simple enough question, but when it comes to public policy it is more difficult. The current focus on climate change centres predominantly around carbon, with biodiversity rendered a supporting role through nature-based solutions. This raises the question: is biodiversity a good in its own right, or is it a supporting service that underpins delivery of a broad range of ecosystem services?

The big new story in agri-environment schemes and farmland conservation is farmer clusters – groups of neighbouring farmers working together to deliver landscape scale conservation in a co-ordinated way. So, why not shoot clusters as well?

The one thing Covid 19 has taught us well, is that prevention is better than cure. In unvaccinated, high density human populations the virus spreads like wildfire. The same can be said of high density vegetation of heather and grass in the uplands.

Providing seed for birds will always benefit a select number bird species largely because many birds, such as wrens, rely on insects for food. 

Last week I caught up with Welsh Governments James Owen Deputy Director, Land Management Reform Division who’s in charge of directing the new Sustainable Farming Scheme. 

Jake Fiennes is the director of conservation at the Holkham Estate, which covers 25,000 acres in north Norfolk. The estate includes a nature reserve, which is visited by almost a million people a year, and a farming business that grows potatoes, sugar beet and barley. James Swyer met with him to find out more.