The Lees Court Estate is involved in a joint Research Project with The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE).

This flagship Project was designed to evaluate and analyse the conservation and biodiversity benefits of management practices to conserve game at Lees Court and four other comparison sites.

The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust is the country’s leading and most respected scientific body involved in research into game and wildlife conservation. DICE is arguably the foremost academic body in the U.K. for biodiversity and conservation. The Project is partially sponsored by Holland and Holland Ltd, a leading manufacturer and retailer of shooting accessories and guns.

The Aims of the Project are:

• Integrate the best outcomes of both wild and reared gamebird management on a lowland estate to produce a management regime that demonstrates "conservation through wise use", best practice and economic viability.
• Calculate the costs and socio-economic impact of such a management regime compared to other management systems at either end of a rearing spectrum.
• Monitor the environmental and conservation impact of such a management regime.
• Disseminate the project's findings to the wider public.
• The Project is to be conducted in the context of the Lees Court Estate's aims to enhance the sporting quality of its shoot.

In addition;

• The National Gamekeepers Organisation, The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), Holland & Holland and Strutt & Parker have helped in developing and designing a questionnaire on the ‘Perceptions of Stakeholders on Gamebird Shooting in Lowland Britain’.

The results from all elements of the Project are due to be released in 2011, after peer review. There is an 11-member steering committee for the Lees Court Estate Project co-chaired by The Countess Sondes and The Earl Peel, which will remain together until the dissemination of the results.

Countryside Stewardship Scheme

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme is the Government’s principal scheme for funding the conservation and management of the farmed countryside. Farmers are paid grants to implement management methods that enhance the landscape, encourage wildlife and protect historical features. Lees Court is at the forefront of conservation methods and is a major participant through its three separate Countryside Stewardship Schemes on the Estate (one of the three schemes is in its twelfth year). The principal Scheme was entered into as part of the Lees Court Estate Project to enhance the farmland ecosystem and biodiversity of the Estate and provide valuable habitat for wildlife and gamebirds.

When these current schemes expire the Estate will enter in to Higher Leverl Stewardship, which aims to deliver significant environmental benefits in high priority situations and areas.  It involves more complex environmental management.

As part of the Research Project, Lees Court commissioned an independent study to demonstrate that Government grant assistance, through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, rarely covers the profits foregone or investment by farmers in capital programmes to enhance the countryside. The issue was raised in The House of Lords and its findings accepted.