The home of Britain's Working Conservationists
Thirty years ago today, I drove from my then home in Hampshire to Loddington in Leicestershire to conduct a night-time spotlight count of brown hares. That was the start of thirty years of data collection on what was to become the Allerton Project research and demonstration farm.
This year we would like to focus on the tawny owl, a species whose population is thought to be in decline in the UK. Research is needed to better understand the drivers of this trend, but a lack of suitable roosting sites due to the loss of mature trees, and changes in woodland management could be contributing factors.
Mountain hare densities in the Peak District could be five times higher than previous estimates, according to new findings.
One of the first tasks when I started my role as Uplands Research Assistant was to investigate if there was a relationship between the start time of a transect and the number of sightings of meadow pipit, the most common insectivorous moorland bird and a key food of breeding merlin.
The BEESPOKE project aims to reverse the decline of pollinators and increase crop pollination on farms in the North Sea Region. Currently the project partners are working to develop bespoke seed mixes and habitat management guidelines to support pollinators on a wide range of crop types.
With the merlin gone for the winter, we have been busy in the uplands taking field measurements to understand what makes habitats suitable for nesting merlin.
On 19th & 20th January the team at GWCT’s Allerton Project was delighted to welcome BBC Countryfile for two days of intensive filming, with the 320ha Loddington estate acting as the ‘hub’ for a forthcoming programme due to be broadcast on Sunday 6th February 2022.
The GWCT’s Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC) is pleased to announce a FREE collaborative online webinar on the 9th of February at 7pm to help record what farm birds are present at this time of year during the official count from February 4th – 20th.
As farmers across the country focus their attention on the Big Farmland Bird Count it’s time to reflect on how songbird numbers on our own farm have changed since the Allerton Project started thirty years ago.
The capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) is a truly magnificent species, one that almost seems too significant and primeval to occur in the small remaining pockets of Caledonian pine forests in the 21st century.