The Wildlife Habitat Charitable Trust (WHCT)has donated €30,000 to a conservation project to help wigeon.
The Wildlife Habitat Charitable Trust (WHCT)has donated €30,000 to a conservation project to help wigeon.
The grant money will be used to improve dwindling habitats by cutting back bushes and restoring grazing, ensuring the wigeon have access to nutritionally essential grasses and herbs. Funds will also be put towards mapping the sites and raising awareness among local farmers of the importance of these sites.
The numbers of this popular wildfowling quarry have been reduced due to a loss of key wetland staging grounds in Belarus and Lithuania over the last 10 years, diminishing their ability to rest and refuel on their yearly migration.
The WHCT is the grant-giving arm of the Wildlife Habitat Trust, a conservation charity which BASC members requested they set up in order to provide funds for shooting and conservation.
Tim Russell, BASC’s Director of Conservation and secretary to the WHCT, said: “Migratory wildfowl are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and loss of habitat. The money the WHCT has spent on flyway conservation projects is important not only to people that shoot, but also to people that just like looking at birds. These projects show that shooters really do care about conservation.”