GWCT secures government backing for seven species recovery projects

A woodcock (Credit: Owen Williams)

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has secured government backing for all seven projects it submitted to Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme, reinforcing the Trust’s position at the forefront of science-led practical conservation.

The projects form part of a record £60 million investment through Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme under the Government’s Wild Again: Restoring England’s Wildlife initiative, which will support a total of 130 projects benefiting 364 threatened species over the next three years.

GWCT CEO Nick von Westenholz said: “Seeing all seven of our projects successfully secure government funding is a major vote of confidence in the GWCT’s research and conservation expertise. It underlines the Trust’s reputation for delivering evidence-led conservation that benefits wildlife, farmers, land managers and the wider countryside. Conservation success begins with good science, strong partnerships and practical action on the ground.

“This means GWCT will play a leading role in delivering some of England’s most ambitious species recovery projects, contributing to the Government’s largest-ever investment in recovering threatened wildlife.”

The GWCT projects that have received funding are:

1. Range expansion and habitat management for black grouse conservation
Target species: black grouse
Areas: Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire, Northumbria, East Midlands, Cumbria, and Cheshire to Lancashire.

2. Merlin recovery in north-eastern England
Target species: merlin
Areas: Northumbria, Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire.

3. Kestrel and rodenticides
Target species: kestrel
Area: Wessex.

4. ASSIST – Atlantic salmon smolt index, supplementation and tracking project
Target species: Atlantic salmon
Areas: Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and Wessex.

5. Evaluation and strategic development of nest-protection measures designed to improve oystercatcher breeding success
Target species: oystercatcher
Co-led by Natural England and GWCT
Areas: Thames Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk.

6. Assessing the decline in swallow insect prey and swallow breeding success in relation to agricultural intensification
Target species: swallow
Areas: Wessex and Thames Solent.

7. Understanding and addressing drivers of woodcock decline
Target species: Eurasian woodcock
Areas: East Midlands, Norfolk and Suffolk, Thames Solent, and West Midlands.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said: “Nearly one in six species in Britain are threatened with extinction and this Government is taking action to reverse that decline.

“Through the largest-ever investment in species recovery, we are backing projects across the country to protect threatened wildlife, restore habitats and secure the future of some of England’s most iconic species.”

Natural England chair Tony Juniper said: “We know that good science and effective partnerships can help restore species to favourable status, and this funding will enable us to support many initiatives to help halt and reverse the decline of our wonderful wildlife.”

Over the past three decades Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme has helped protect over 1,000 species and prevented the national extinction of at least 35 species.

Defra says it will invest £60 million over the next three years, plus a further £30 million dedicated to species recovery on the national forest estate, bringing the total government commitment to £90 million.

The Government is working towards meeting legal targets set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan, committing to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and reduce species extinction risk by 2042 against 2022 levels.