Conservation project ‘could provide blueprint for wildlife recovery’

Written by William Kellett

A new collaboration aims to show how farmers can work together to achieve the recovery of some of the UK’s most threatened farmland bird species, including grey partridge, curlew and lapwing.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) is working with a group of Shropshire farmers to establish the Corvedale Farmland Wildlife Project, which will put farmland conservation techniques based on the trust’s research into practice on the ground.

Dr. Roger Draycott, who is leading the project for the GWCT, said:

In developing this new demonstration project we are aiming to show that by following our tested, research-based management measures for grey partridge recovery, including habitat improvements and predation control, other species such as curlew and lapwing will benefit.

“By working with farmers across the Corvedale we hope to show that putting measures in place on a landscape-scale, rather than just individual farms, greatly increases the chance of significant bio-diversity gains.”

Farmland biodiversity


The grey partridge is widely considered to be a barometer of farmland biodiversity. Where the conditions exist for it to thrive, other wildlife will too.

Their numbers have declined across Europe by more than 90% since the 1970s. In the same period, lapwing numbers have plummeted by 80% and curlew have been in long-term decline, with numbers halving in the last 20 years, making it Britain’s most urgent bird conservation priority.

The GWCT has been monitoring abundance and breeding success of the grey partridge since 1933 with its Partridge Count Scheme (PCS).

The launch of the Corvedale project coincides with the annual PCS Spring Count, when farmers and gamekeepers are asked to record partridge numbers for a national database.

The new project is aiming for the recovery of the grey partridge and red-listed waders in the Corvedale.

It will also provide opportunities for participating farmers and the GWCT to share knowledge with the wider agricultural community.

Training and education in wildlife and conservation management is central to the project and organisers hope that it will also help inform the development of agri-environment policy following Brexit.

‘Encouraging signs’ of breeding


Frank Bury of the Millichope Estate, which is supporting the project through the Millichope Foundation and on estate farms, said:

Since 2017 we have established a network of 6m conservation margins extending 13km on our arable farmland and also instigated predation control. We have seen encouraging signs of lapwing and curlew breeding success.

“We look forward to working with the GWCT and other farms in the area to support this worthwhile project.”

To allow it to demonstrate long-term results, the project will run for a minimum of five years with an initial group of farms.

Dr. Draycott said: “Ultimately we hope to develop a farmer cluster across the Corvedale, allowing the farmers to continue working together for bio-diversity gains on a landscape-scale well into the future.”

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