About Merlin Becker

Growing up in the Wicklow Mountains, Merlin has always had a passion for the natural world especially heather moorlands and the wildlife that are supported by the open living landscape. He was very fortunate to have a gamekeeper and sporting tour operator as a father, who taught him all he knows about game and wildlife conservation, as well as a mother who is also a passionate naturalist and countrywoman in her own right.

Studying Countryside & Environmental Management at Harper Adams University was one of his best life choices to date, as it was here where he got his first opportunity to live and work in Scotland with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) as a placement student and graduate at the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project and Drumochter Research Station. He has also worked in Wales on an Uplands Recovery Project as a research assistant, as a wildlife conservation officer for Irish Grey Partridge Conservation Trust at the flagship Boora Bog Project and as a policy & advisory officer with the GWCT based on their Game & Wildlife Scottish Demonstration Farm at Auchnerran, Aberdeenshire.

Merlin is passionate about all manner of field sports, especially falconry, rough shooting and fox hunting and is a big supporter of the hunting and farming communities working together to deliver practical, tangible management work on the ground for true nature recovery. 

At Fields Good, Merlin will be taking part on the panel; “When Land Comes Alive”, where he will share his work on conservation of grouse across the Glenwherry Hills.