Blogs

In this guide, we'll walk you through the key details and steps to prepare for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), a program designed to support your farm business while promoting sustainable practices.

In the two years since my PhD started in September 2021, I have used many of the tools available to the modern ecologist as I attempt to peel back the curtain on red fox population dynamics in central southern England, and the associated consequences for their threatened prey species. Understanding which major food resources support the large numbers of foxes found throughout the region is one of the main focuses of my project, and so far analysis of stomach contents has allowed us to quantify red fox diets in the New Forest. Nevertheless, I am once again raiding the ecologist’s toolbox to try to investigate fox diets across the whole region, this time reaching for stable isotope analysis…

We're pleased to announce that the 2023 GWCT Welsh Game Fair was a great success.

Join us on 17-18 October to explore the best options for restoring the biodiversity of arable habitats in Wales.

This week, several GWCT research staff are out in the Sussex countryside undertaking autumn partridge counts. The PCS is a free and voluntary scheme run by the GWCT since 1933 to collect information on the annual abundance and breeding success of grey partridges. 

As part of Defra’s efforts to protect hedgerows in England, they launched a consultation in June to gather your views and suggestions. The consultation will close on 20 September, so there is still time for you to have your say and help shape the future of hedgerow policy. 

We'd like to invite you to become a GWCT Premium Member at a special rate to guarantee you're insured for the new season.

The 2023 curlew breeding season has now drawn to a close, and after many years of low productivity in the New Forest, its adult population of curlews – which is likely ageing – has finally produced a reasonable number of fledglings.

Any policy maker with an eye to the past understands that the more gaps we have in our knowledge, the higher the risk is of unintended consequences if we rush to make policy decisions. That is why a number of our leading scientists with years of conducting key research into these ecosystems on our uplands are advising caution regarding the seemingly appealing solution of banning prescribed burning as a management tool for moorland owners. It might quite literally backfire!