Blogs

Our research group at the GWCT is attempting to answer the question “Do sites that release gamebirds have more fox activity than non-release sites?” by collecting and analysing fox scats. 28 February 2022 saw our first day of fieldwork in a programme lasting until next spring.

We are offering a rare opportunity to acquire some shooting just south of Edinburgh.

A new fieldwork season has begun and along with it a new project, bringing new tasks. The maternal red grouse condition project commenced in March when 70 red grouse hens were caught from seven different study sites in Upper Teesdale, North Pennines.

Grouse moors appear to form important refuges for breeding merlin. However, recent merlin declines have been suggested to be due to intensified cutting and burning of heather to favour grouse, thereby reducing both the availability of tall heather for nesting and the numbers of small birds, particularly meadow pipits, which themselves have declined by 40% between 1970 and 2010 and are currently on the amber list of Birds of Conservation Concern.

Manufacturers of the revolutionary Shotgun and Rifle cleaning tools that makes cleaning guns easy. Gone are the days when cleaning your gun takes at least half an hour!

It’s Father’s Day on Sunday 19th June and we have a great range of gift ideas available in the GWCT Shop.

An appraisal of: Harris (2021) A review of the animal welfare, public health, and environmental, ecological and conservation implications of rearing, releasing and shooting non-native gamebirds in Britain. Report to the Labour Animal Welfare Society.

This February and March the Farmland Ecology Unit collected 1,200 soil samples as part of the healthy soil, healthy food, and healthy people (H3) project. H3 is part of a large interdisciplinary project aiming to transform UK food systems by putting the health of people and the environment at the forefront of UK food production.