2025

Three days ago I watched four hares in my 7 acre paddock in front of my house being ‘mad march hares’. Baroness Helic is correct (Thunderer 25th March) that they are one of the most evocative symbols of the English Countryside.

Defra informed stakeholders on 21^st March that GL43 will be published in the next couple of weeks. However, GL45 will not be released this year, meaning that individual licences must be sought for those wanting to release gamebirds on SPAs.

GWCT’s Ceredigion Committee hosted their 3rd Clay Shoot at the Dovey Valley on Sunday 16 March, welcoming 100 guns. Squads of 6 were faced with 10 stands with varying challenges, on a sunny but crisp morning.

It is important, now more than ever, that land managers are able to demonstrate to policy makers and the public the conservation value of the management activities that preserve our rare habitats.

There’s a lot of talk about the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme. The SFI has not ended. Because the scheme was so good farmers have piled into it enthusiastically and all the money is now committed.

The GWCT runs a Shoot Biodiversity Assessment service to help farms, estates and game managers highlight where wildlife is benefiting from the shoot, identify any areas where there may be potential negative impacts, and work to improve them without affecting the running of the shoot.

Farmers are not expecting free handouts, they are able and willing to play a central role in restoring nature for fair reward and it’s critical that Government keeps them on board for the benefit of all.

More than 250 people from across the northern hemisphere gathered in London recently to call for urgent action to conserve, protect and restore the world’s wild salmon. Speakers from across the world delivered fascinating and insightful talks on a wide range of issues affecting both wild Atlantic and Pacific salmon and the people who depend on these species.

For any fire to start and spread it needs fuel, oxygen and an ignition source.  But when it comes to wildfires at a landscape scale there are additional factors such as the fire environment (weather, topography and fuel) and the fire regime (landform, climate and vegetation).

The GWCT Advisory Services in Scotland offer Muirburn Planning Services to assist estates in obtaining the right muirburn licences. We have developed spatial datasets over several years through collaboration with estates. These datasets operate at a much finer scale than NatureScot’s Peatland Map and take into account other environmental factors important for planning muirburn.