Press Releases - 2013

The Cranborne Estate in Dorset is the latest recipient of a prestigious conservation trophy awarded in recognition of the considerable efforts being made to boost one of our most threatened farmland birds, the wild grey partridge.

An up-and-coming young photographer from Orpington in Kent has been presented with the prestigious Julian Gardner Award by one of the UK's most respected research charities.

They have been widely featured on the BBC programme Springwatch as well as the BBC’s One Show. Now the secret life of the elusive woodcock is being revealed in west Wales by one of the world’s leading authorities on woodcock ecology, Dr Andrew Hoodless on Friday 15th November at the Abercothi Estate in Carmarthen.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) is urging shoots across the country to get involved in their 2013/14 shoot sweepstake scheme to help raise funds for their vital game and wildlife research.

One of the UK's most respected wildlife charities is hoping to receive a boost in funding after competing in the world-famous Spartan Challenge this September.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is running free training sessions for farmers, gamekeepers and estate workers on fox snaring and controlling corvids using cage traps on 12th November 2013 at Lastingham Village Hall on the North York Moors.

It’s poignant that not so very long ago, the wild grey partridge was a very common bird that flourished on arable farmland across the country. However, in the past 40 years its numbers have plummeted by more than 80 per cent and leading research charity the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), based in Fordingbridge, Hampshire reports that they have become locally extinct in many areas.

One year after opening the GWCT’s Allerton Project’s award-winning eco-visitor and training centre, researchers from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust have been doing the maths to prove that by combining modern technology with traditional materials like sheep fleece and straw, it is possible to create a sustainable rural building that not only has a very low carbon footprint but also saves many thousands of pounds in running costs.

Last summer was the wettest for 100 years and wild grey partridges were one particular species that paid the price for the appalling wet conditions. Although many young partridge chicks failed to survive, recent figures released by research charity, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) showed that there is still reason to be optimistic as the over-winter survival of adult birds was much better than expected.

Leading research charity, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) is delighted to announce the winner of its prestigious Yorkshire conservation trophy dedicated to one of the UK’s most iconic but rare birds – the wild grey partridge.