The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (formerly the Game Conservancy Trust) is a British

charitable organisation A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ...

promoting game and wildlife management as a part of nature conservation, whilst working with the shooting and hunting community. For over 75 years the Trust has been conducting scientific research to understand why there have been declines in species such as the grey partridge,

black grouse The black grouse (''Lyrurus tetrix''), also known as northern black grouse, Eurasian black grouse, blackgame or blackcock, is a large game bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, spanning across the Palearctic in moorland and ste ...

, water vole, corn bunting and brown hare. The Trust advises conservationists, farmers and land managers on ways to improve wildlife habitat and enhance the countryside for public benefit. It also lobbies government for agricultural and conservation policies based on science. Notable conservation projects of the Trust are those conserving grey partridges,

and regarding control of

mink Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera '' Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": ...

where they are preying on water voles.

History

A severe outbreak of the disease strongylosis in grey partridges in 1931 led Major HG Eley (a shotgun cartridge manufacturer) to establish the ICI Game Research Station at Knebworth in Hertfordshire. The organisation monitored partridge numbers and investigated their biology. After the war, Eley established a new base at Burgate Manor in

Fordingbridge Fordingbridge is a town and broader civil parish with a population of 6,000 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest, famed for its late mediev ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, establishing what was later known as the Eley Game Advisory Service. They leased a local estate and for 14 years ran it as a demonstration and experimental game shoot. Much of the association's early work was on

organochlorine An organochloride, organochlorine compound, chlorocarbon, or chlorinated hydrocarbon is an organic compound containing at least one covalently bonded atom of chlorine. The chloroalkane class (alkanes with one or more hydrogens substituted by chlor ...

pesticides and this work helped to bring in a ban on the use of

dieldrin Dieldrin is an organochloride originally produced in 1948 by J. Hyman & Co, Denver, as an insecticide. Dieldrin is closely related to aldrin, which reacts further to form dieldrin. Aldrin is not toxic to insects; it is oxidized in the insect to f ...

aldrin Aldrin is an organochlorine insecticide that was widely used until the 1990s, when it was banned in most countries. Aldrin is a member of the so-called "classic organochlorines" (COC) group of pesticides. COCs enjoyed a very sharp rise in popula ...

and

heptachlor Heptachlor is an organochlorine compound that was used as an insecticide. Usually sold as a white or tan powder, heptachlor is one of the cyclodiene insecticides. In 1962, Rachel Carson's '' Silent Spring'' questioned the safety of heptachlor ...

seed dressings in 1962. In April 1980, the organisation was registered as a research and education charity under the name The Game Conservancy Trust.

Name change

On 1 October 2007, after 27 years as the Game Conservancy Trust, the organisation was renamed to the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, to reflect that it works to conserve a wider range of wildlife other than game animals.

Conservation

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust works on the following species and habitats: * Grey partridge *

Black grouse The black grouse (''Lyrurus tetrix''), also known as northern black grouse, Eurasian black grouse, blackgame or blackcock, is a large game bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, spanning across the Palearctic in moorland and ste ...

Red grouse The red grouse (''Lagopus lagopus scotica'') is a medium-sized bird of the grouse family which is found in heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It is usually classified as a subspecies of the willow ptarmigan but is sometimes consid ...

Capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ...

Ptarmigan ''Lagopus'' is a small genus of birds in the grouse subfamily commonly known as ptarmigans (). The genus contains three living species with numerous described subspecies, all living in tundra or cold upland areas. Taxonomy and etymology The ge ...

* Eurasian woodcock * Brown hare * Atlantic salmon *

Brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...

* Farmland birds such as

yellowhammer The yellowhammer (''Emberiza citrinella'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family that is native to Eurasia and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia. Most European birds remain in the breeding range year-round, but the eastern ...

song thrush The song thrush (''Turdus philomelos'') is a thrush that breeds across the West Palearctic. It has brown upper-parts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies. Its distinctive song, which has repeated music ...

and corn bunting * Chalk streams * Farmland * Field margins * Heather moorland The Trust is one of the pioneers in research into

conservation headland A conservation headland is a strip along the edge of an agricultural field, where pesticides are sprayed only in a selective manner. This increases the number and type of weed and insect species present, and benefits the bird species that depend on ...

s and beetle banks.

Research

The Trust has conducted and published research on countryside and game management, on topics such as numbers of gamebirds, disease in gamebirds, predator control and farming practices. It also publishes peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals.

References

External links

Website

Video clips

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust Environmental organisations based in the United Kingdom Ornithological organizations Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1931 Organisations based in Hampshire 1931 establishments in the United Kingdom