Using research to inform species and landscape management

Long-term research is crucial to understanding species declines and devising management solutions.

Our research continues to inform farming and game management practices.

The Review reports on and showcases some of the research undertaken at the GWCT in the last 12 months. Owing to the applied nature of our research, our scientists rely on the collection of data in the field. 2020 was a difficult year because there was great uncertainty about what fieldwork would be possible, just at the time when most teams were about to start their most intensive periods of fieldwork. I am pleased to report that by co-opting partners and other family members our research teams managed remarkably well, ensuring that time-sensitive tasks were completed, and therefore we did not suffer gaps in long-term datasets.

Large-scale, long-term datasets enable us to better understand the ecology of declining species and the reasons for their reduced numbers, and to propose and monitor management solutions. The articles on grayling, black grouse, and grey partridge (see pages 58, 22 and 72 respectively) illustrate the value of some of our long-term datasets. Our long-term monitoring of salmonids on the River Frome in Dorset continues (see page 52), but the SAMARCH project has enabled us to undertake novel work to investigate movements and survival of fish at sea (see page 54).

Work towards more sustainable farming systems continues at our Allerton Project at Loddington and some of our pioneering research on improving water quality and reducing catchment-scale flood risk, and on Conservation Agriculture, is described in this Review (see pages 40 and 44). Closer working between the team at Loddington and our farmland ecology and Sussex study teams under the Allerton Project umbrella was instigated in the latter half of 2020, and I am confident that the increased dialogue between scientists will place us in a strong position for future farmland research. Two of our projects with European partners, BEESPOKE and PARTRIDGE (see pages 28 and 76), were selected as exemplars and showcased at the EU Green Week in October, and these are good examples of the type of work we will be looking to build upon.

Scrutiny of game management practices continues, so it was good to see our upland team set up an experiment and collect baseline data to investigate the effects of burning and cutting of vegetation on blanket peat (see page 24). A report to Natural England reviewing the effects of gamebird releasing on woodland and farmland habitats and species was produced, followed by the timely publication of a scientific paper (see page 64). Andrew Hoodless, Director of Research

Large-scale, long-term datasets such as counting black grouse, enable us to better understand the ecology of declining species and the reasons for their reduced numbers, and to propose and monitor management solutions. © Nick Hesford/GWCT