Science matters
BASC monitors scientific journals, environmental, policy and political alerts for the results of studies of relevance to shooting and conservation. Below are links to a selection of papers published in January – February 2025.
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Birds
- Ten years on from a predator removal experiment in the English uplands: Changes in numbers of ground-nesting birds and predators
- The status of breeding Hen Harriers Circus cyaneus in the UK and Isle of Man in 2023
- Assessing the impacts of livestock grazing on upland bird breeding territories using drone surveys
- Solar farm management influences breeding bird responses in an arable-dominated landscape.
- Increased bird diversity around small-scale solar energy plants in agricultural landscape.
- Morphological differences between wild and game-farm Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) in North America
- Arctic migrating barnacle geese utilize accommodation fields in a new agricultural staging area
- Accommodation–repelling fields for mitigating human–goose conflicts
Mammals
- A continuous feast of bramble: Rubus fruticosus is a key cross‐seasonal dietary resource for a fallow deer population
- Assessing the potential role of deer in the dissemination of Mycobacterium bovis infection to cattle in Northern Ireland
- A trial of deer repellent spray for reducing deer browsing damage to coppiced hazel in an ancient woodland in Cambridgeshire
- Woodland expansion and deer management shape tick abundance and Lyme disease hazard
- The many boar identities: understanding difference and change in the geographies of European wild boar management
- Wolf reintroduction to Scotland could support substantial native woodland expansion and associated carbon sequestration
- An assessment of whether age, sex, and reproductive status affect bait uptake by grey squirrels
- Impacts of mammals on trees and tree protection methods pertinent to English treescapes – a systematic literature review for Forestry Commission
Land management
- Can water table restoration in drained peatlands contribute to improving the population status of Eurasian teal Anas crecca?
- Drivers of natural colonisation and regeneration within planted woodlands in England: towards an integrated approach to increase resilience
- Aligning strategic and participatory approaches to agri-environment scheme design and implementation to enhance nature recovery outcomes
- Just nature recovery: A framework for centring multispecies and multi-dimensional justice in land management
- Guidelines for the Selection of Biological SSSIs. Part 2: Detailed Guidelines for Habitats and Species Groups. Chapter 9 Uplands Habitats. JNCC
Other topics
- Bait trapping of waterfowl increases the environmental contamination of avian influenza virus (AIV)
- Impacts of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) on a Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis population wintering on the Solway Firth, UK
- Avian influenza overview September–December 2024
- Ecological risk factors for the establishment of West Nile virus in Britain.
- Tick-borne encephalitis: from tick surveillance to the first confirmed human cases, the United Kingdom, 2015 to 2023
- Trends in the Application of Citizen Science in Waterbird Conservation: A Bibliometric Analysis
- AI-Driven Real-Time Monitoring of Ground-Nesting Birds: A Case Study on Curlew Detection Using YOLOv10
- Climate change impacts on blanket peatland in Great Britain
- Using choice Experiments to understand public preferences for reducing Lead-Based ammunition for environmental and health improvements in wetlands ecosystems
- Sampling of red grouse carcasses in Britain indicates no progress during an intended five-year voluntary transition from lead to non-lead shotgun ammunition.
- Spatial and temporal variation in the prevalence of illegal lead shot in reared and wild mallards harvested in England
- The proportion of common pheasants shot using lead shotgun ammunition in Britain has barely changed over five years of voluntary efforts to switch from lead to non-lead ammunition
- Comparison of Carcass Composition, Meat Quality, Metric Traits of the Digestive System, and Leg Bones of the Common Pheasant ( L.) and Gray Partridge ( L.)
- The demographic collapse of hunting in the Iberian Peninsula.
- Bait trapping of waterfowl increases the environmental contamination of avian influenza virus (AIV)
- Impacts of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) on a Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis population wintering on the Solway Firth, UK
- Avian influenza overview September–December 2024
- Ecological risk factors for the establishment of West Nile virus in Britain.
- Tick-borne encephalitis: from tick surveillance to the first confirmed human cases, the United Kingdom, 2015 to 2023
- Trends in the Application of Citizen Science in Waterbird Conservation: A Bibliometric Analysis
- AI-Driven Real-Time Monitoring of Ground-Nesting Birds: A Case Study on Curlew Detection Using YOLOv10
- Climate change impacts on blanket peatland in Great Britain
- Using choice Experiments to understand public preferences for reducing Lead-Based ammunition for environmental and health improvements in wetlands ecosystems
- Sampling of red grouse carcasses in Britain indicates no progress during an intended five-year voluntary transition from lead to non-lead shotgun ammunition.
- Spatial and temporal variation in the prevalence of illegal lead shot in reared and wild mallards harvested in England
- The proportion of common pheasants shot using lead shotgun ammunition in Britain has barely changed over five years of voluntary efforts to switch from lead to non-lead ammunition
- Comparison of Carcass Composition, Meat Quality, Metric Traits of the Digestive System, and Leg Bones of the Common Pheasant ( L.) and Gray Partridge ( L.)
- The demographic collapse of hunting in the Iberian Peninsula.
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