2024

The iDeer project wants to hear your views on wild deer! You are invited to complete our questionnaire, which will take approximately 10-15 minutes.

The GWCT-managed FAB project, with generous support from Pepsico and key input from NatureScot and Scottish Agronomy, aims to demonstrate how productive agriculture does not need to suffer whilst accommodating biodiversity.  

Whilst there was much to be positive about in the recent announcement by the Defra Secretary of State on the 2024 SFI offer in terms of its support for farming, we are disappointed that the opportunity was not taken to include measures in the ELMS to reduce predation pressure to facilitate species recovery.

Over the coming weeks we have three wonderful opportunities for gamekeepers and shoot managers to hone their skills and learn about the latest developments in the game shooting sector.

The new year marks four months into my placement with GWCT and there are plenty of highlights from my time in Scotland so far.

Fox-tagging research as part of the EU LIFE+ Waders for Real project sought to understand how many foxes reside within wet grassland areas in the Avon Valley, and where foxes spend their time, to inform predation management strategies.

Finding myself in ownership of four Canada Geese that no one else wanted at a shoot ‘share out’ in SW Scotland a few days ago, I was reminded of this recipe which I wrote back in January 2010. If you read on you will see that I feared I was ‘letting the cat out of the bag’, but clearly, I was wrong

The latest changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive, launched at the Oxford Farming Conference, are a huge step in the right direction. For many years, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust has argued for those farmers with good existing habitat to be rewarded for their work. Finally, we have this at a fair rate within government policy.

Last year more than 1,700 farms across the UK took part in the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Big Farmland Bird Count and more than 460,000 birds of 149 different species were recorded across over 1.5 million acres of farmland. A huge achievement.

Throughout August and September of last year the Scottish Lowlands Research team undertook pitfall trapping on the six farms in the PepsiCo FAB project. We sampled at some beautiful locations, surrounded by the flowers of cover crops and pollinator mixes, and made sure to sample contrasting habitats at each farm.