NottinghamshireWildlife Trust

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Our Vision

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This brochure explains more about our priorities and progress to deliver our Strategic Plan for the wildlife and people of Nottinghamshire.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is the county’s largest environmental charity run by local people for the benefit of local wildlife and wildlife habitats. Established in 1963, the Wildlife Trust has nearly 11,000 members, and manages 67 nature reserves covering more than 1,400 hectares. Improving people’s understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the natural world is fundamental to our work. We are part of a nationwide network of 47 local Wildlife Trusts working in partnership to protect our precious natural heritage.

More than of championing wildlife and living landscapes

50 years

11,000

members700 active

volunteers&

Half a million visits to our nature reserves every year

67nature reserves across Nottinghamshire – covering 1,400 hectares

One in three of the county’s Sites of Special Scientific Interest are cared for by the Wildlife Trust

46 sites in our Grasslands for Wildlife ‘Blue Butterfly’ scheme

8,000 planning applications reviewed every year

We are supported by 8 Local Members’ Groups across the county52 landowners in

our Farmland Bird ‘Bed &

Breakfast’ scheme

558hectares of the nature reserves are in the Environmental Stewardship Scheme

active Wildlife Watch Groups for young people

211 hectares of our woodland

20 sites are grazed by our livestock each year, improving biodiversity

We manage two award winning centres at our Attenborough & Idle Valley Nature Reserves ‘Friends of’

10,000 people are educated and inspired by our events every year

More than 400 members of the public

attend our training courses every year

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust in numbers: The footprint of our county-wide activities

Around 130 advisory visits to landowners

every year

46

groups supported: helping improve local green spaces

are in the Woodland Grant Scheme

8

Campaigning for wildlife

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust plays a vital role in being an effective voice for nature and representing those who care about wildlife. We are there to fight for a better deal for wildlife, responding to varied threats and opportunities, including HS2 (the high speed rail link), housing developments and minerals extraction proposals. We are the only environmental body that screens every planning application each year (some 8,000 in total). We submit several hundred detailed planning responses annually, providing expert input to local authority planning proposals.

As a result of our advice and influence, greater protection has been secured for key wildlife areas and threatened species - helping to take forward our aspirations for landscape-scale conservation beyond our own nature reserves.

In addition to improving individual planning applications for wildlife, we also work to secure long-term changes within the planning system. Here in Nottinghamshire we continue to influence local development plans and have recently secured fundamental changes to the minerals planning process meaning that all future proposals will have a greater emphasis on habitat restoration.

We regularly join forces with other local Wildlife Trusts on national campaigns, including current work to secure the designation of Marine Conservation Zones, and promote badger vaccination and improved livestock husbandry rather than a badger cull to control bovine TB.

Our priorities

Together with other Wildlife Trusts across the country, we are determined to help nature to recover after decades of decline. We believe passionately that wildlife needs to have space to thrive, beyond designated nature reserves and other protected sites. To achieve this, it is vital that the richest wildlife sites are protected and sustained as a starting point from which nature can spread back into our wider landscapes.

Society needs this as much as our wildlife does. A healthy natural environment is the foundation for everything that is of value to people – food, water, shelter, flood prevention, health, happiness and creative inspiration. It’s the source of our prosperity and our wellbeing. We want to inspire people about the natural world so that they value it, understand their relationship with it and take action to protect and restore it.

We are currently working with sister Wildlife Trusts to secure the designation of Marine Conservation Zones.

Thanks to our efforts more minerals sites will

be restored to nature.

The priorities of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust are:• Campaigning for wildlife• Working with partners to restore the county’s wildlife• Managing and enhancing our nature reserves• Inspiring people to take action for wildlife

Working with partners to restore the county’s wildlife

With an ambitious landscape-scale vision, we are now working with partners to deliver habitat restoration and are making significant progress across five of our Living Landscape areas.

In the Trent Vale we are providing management advice and conservation grazing expertise to local farmers to help restore traditional floodplain grasslands. Recent work on the River Fleet has also improved bankside habitats for species including the threatened water vole.

Across the Idle Valley we are supporting farmers and other landowners to improve wildlife habitats. In addition to direct land management advice, the Trust is now at the heart of decision-making, alongside the Environment Agency and other partners, to promote the management and restoration of key watercourses across the north of the county.

In Sherwood Forest we are working with partners to establish an extensive Landscape Partnership Scheme which will help restore and reconnect large areas of heathland and other habitats. We continue to chair the Regional Park Board and have launched the Champions of Sherwood campaign to ensure we can make the most of the tremendous opportunities that now exist to enhance and recreate this famous forest. This scheme has seen heathland restored at the former Rufford Colliery in partnership with Harworth Estates, enhanced management of Clipstone Forest with the Forestry Commission, and development work on a number of critically important sites including Clipstone Heath with

skills-based training to help enhance green spaces while improving the job prospects for the city’s young people through our Young Roots initiative.

In addition to enhancing and reconnecting wildlife habitats, we are committed to boosting the populations of key species. Recent activities include the reintroduction of harvest mice in Rushcliffe with The University of Nottingham and reintroduction of dormice in Bassetlaw with the People’s Trust for Endangered Species. We have also had positive evidence that our work to improve rivers and wetlands over the past 20 years has resulted in otters returning as a breeding species to the county.

Our work on wetland habitats in the north of the county is mirrored in the south where we are delivering major habitat improvements along the Fairham Brook in Rushcliffe, and engaging with communities to limit the impact of pollution on wildlife along the River Leen in Nottingham.

Recent work on the River Fleet has improved bankside habitats

for species including the threatened water vole.

Natural England. In partnership with Birklands Ringing Group, our subsidiary company EMEC Ecology, the Forestry Commission and Heritage Lottery Fund, we are conducting major research into the habitat requirements of the critically endangered nightjar.

In the Erewash Valley we are providing local communities with greater opportunities to discover and enjoy wildlife. By supporting volunteer groups at Toton Fields and Brinsley Headstocks, we are enabling more people to play a part in the care and management of key sites, and through our education programme based at Attenborough we are giving people the skills and confidence to explore this unique valley for themselves.

In Nottingham our Wildlife in the City programme is continuing apace. Having delivered major habitat improvements across a range of sites in partnership with Nottingham City Council, our focus is now on delivering

Managing and enhancing our nature reserves Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust cares for more than 1,400 hectares of nature reserves across almost 70 sites, including one in three of the county’s Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Our estate is at the heart of our conservation work, protecting rare species and habitats, and demonstrating the principles of good land management.

Expanding our sites to improve resilience to threats, including climate change, is a key priority. We have recently purchased grassland adjacent to Treswell Wood, near Retford, to encourage natural regeneration, as well as taking on ownership of land at the northern section of the SSSI at Idle Valley. We have also now purchased land at Blott’s Pit to extend our Skylarks nature reserve at Holme Pierrepont, meeting the calls of supporters and members of the public to safeguard the site and its habitats.

Each year we continue to restore and enhance many of our nature reserves through agri-environment schemes and conservation grazing. At Idle Valley Nature Reserve we are converting willow coppice to grassland, and creating new reedbeds. Support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and WREN has also enabled us to build much needed livestock facilities on the site, which will support our county-wide conservation grazing programme.

Our much loved flagship reserve at Attenborough has popular new facilities including a unique sand martin viewing hide and nesting bank, offering visitors unparalleled opportunities to learn about and discover wildlife. At Attenborough, we also continue to work with the

Environment Agency to support the establishment of large areas of reedbed and wet grassland on site.

The 14 sites we manage on behalf of Nottingham City Council continue to receive investment, with recent successes including Local Nature Reserve status being secured for Springfield Corner, and a Green Flag Award for Harrison’s Plantation. Major restoration projects in the city include work on the Clifton Woods complex and re-wetting of large parts of the Fairham Brook reserve.

Meanwhile, management continues apace elsewhere, including removal of significant areas of scrub at Mansey Common, near Eakring, and creating new scrapes for wetland birds at Aldercarr Flash. We have also put renewed focus into generating products from our nature reserves including charcoal, wood fuel and willow to improve our financial sustainability.

In addition to the highest standards of site management, we continue to seek new ways to engage visitors with our sites – such as the collaboration with Ordinary Culture on an exciting programme of performances and art installations at Duke’s Wood.

Every year we undertake and support surveys, monitoring and research work on our sites, with dozens of survey permits issued. Recent research projects have included invertebrate and mammal surveying, and bird ringing, all helping to improve our knowledge of the ecology of our reserves.

We manage a successful conservation grazing programme.

14 sites we manage

on behalf of Nottingham City

Council.

Clifton Grove is one of the

Inspiring people to take action for wildlife

People are central to all the Wildlife Trust’s activities with more than 700 active volunteers playing a vital role in all aspects of our work, including governance, reception duties, management and communications.

To help inspire people about the natural world, we encourage individuals to get involved in outdoor learning. Each year we provide formal education opportunities for around 7,500 students from all age ranges, including visits to our centres at Attenborough and Idle Valley Nature Reserves and the Cottam Education Centre in partnership with EDF Energy, as well as visits to our other nature reserves.

At Attenborough, we are focused on engaging new audiences, working more with youth groups, diverse communities and those with special needs, as well as encouraging visits by sustainable transport. At the Idle Valley Rural Learning Centre we have now opened new facilities including a children’s wild play area and a seven- day-a-week café. An innovative project at Idle Valley with the local NHS, Recovery , has seen us encourage mental health clients to take part in conservation work and other activities in a natural setting to help improve their wellbeing.

Outreach work is wide and varied, ranging from woodland workshops with schools in Gamston Wood and teacher INSET training sessions at Idle Valley, to youth work in Nottingham. Our Heritage Lottery-funded Sherwood Heathlands Education project has reached more than

1,300 people, making links with disadvantaged groups in Ashfield and Mansfield.

Every year the Trust has contact with about a quarter of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire’s schools, with 21 schools/groups being affiliated to Wildlife Watch. The team advises many schools on improving their grounds for wildlife, with a particular focus on schools in Bassetlaw and Rushcliffe.

Every year the Trust runs training courses for people to increase their skills in species identification and practical conservation techniques. We have eight active Wildlife Watch Groups for children and their families across the county, and 45 active volunteer leaders.

More than 10,000 people participate in family-friendly events every year. The eight volunteer-run Local Groups deliver an extensive programme of walks, talks and other events, attracting hundreds more participants. Our work supporting others to care for important local green spaces, including many Local Nature Reserves, now extends to 46 ‘Friends of’ groups across the county.

Every year the Wildlife Trust’s nature reserves receive an estimated half-million visits, providing a source of enjoyment, relaxation and health. The many educational events, interpretive facilities and volunteering opportunities run by the Trust provide a range of social benefits and contribute significantly to people’s quality of life.

Each year we provide education opportunities for around 7,500 students from all age ranges.

We have over 700 active volunteers.

Our supporters

To achieve its ambitions and objectives, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust has a broad funding base with the largest proportion of income derived from grants, donations and gifts. However, the contributions from other sources including statutory, landfill tax credits, lottery funds, corporate sponsors and grant-making trusts are vital to our success.

To help us plan for the future and to enable us to invest in key conservation programmes, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is seeking to increase the number of individual donors and supporters, strengthen relationships with local businesses and increase revenue from trading activities.

We are grateful to the following for their financial support through donations, grants and sponsorship:

• Ashfield District Council• Bassetlaw District Council • Biffa Award • Big Lottery (Awards for All)• Big Lottery (Access To Nature) • Broxtowe Borough Council• Cemex Community Fund• Defra • Derbyshire Environmental Trust• Environment Agency • Forestry Commission • Heritage Lottery Fund

(Main Grants)

• Heritage Lottery Fund (Your Heritage)

• Mansfield District Council• Natural England • Newark and Sherwood District

Council• Nottingham City Council• Nottinghamshire County Council• Rushcliffe Borough Council• Sita Trust • Trent Vale Landscape Partnership

(Heritage Lottery Fund) • WREN

• Alan Evans Memorial Trust• Boots Charitable Trust• Charles Littlewood Hill Trust• Dunn Family Charitable Trust• HSBC Trust• Lady Hind Trust• Linmardon Charitable Trust

• Mansfield Building Society Community Fund

• Mary Potter Convent Hospital Trust

• Open Gate• Roger Vere Foundation• Walker 597 Animal Trust• William Dean Countryside Trust

• Lucy Aynsley• Geoff Baker• Leslie Darch• Joan King

• Hugh Palin• Edith Smith• Teresa Yates

Donations from our members and supporters are a major source of income. The following legacies were received as well as an anonymous bequest towards our Skylarks Appeal.

Corporate Membership of the Trust is designed to enable organisations to demonstrate care for the local environment. Our current Corporate Members and supporters:

Landfill, Lottery, Public and Statutory

Grant-making Trusts (GMTs)

Wildlife Guardians / Corporate Supporters

How we spent our funds in 2013-14

Estate Management 41.5% £866,511

Conservation & Planning 18.8% £392,057

Education & Community 25.3% £528,675

Fundraising & PR 6.2% £129,156

Membership Activities 6.8% £141,133

Governance & Investment Management 1.4% £29,030

Total £2,086,562

Figures relate to 2013/14. Full accounts for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and its subsidiaries are available via our website.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is the county’s largest environmental charity run by local people for the benefit of local wildlife and wildlife habitats. If you share our vision please support us by becoming a member.

www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org@NottswildlifeNottinghamshireWildlifeTrust

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust The Old Ragged School Brook Street Nottingham NG1 1EA

Tel: 0115 958 8242 Email: info@nottswt.co.uk

Charity No.224168. Company Number: 748865. Auditor: Ling Phipp Chartered Accountants, Cliffe Hill House, 22-26 Nottingham, Road, Stapleford, Nottingham NG9 8AA

Image credits: Harvest Mouse © Esther Kettle, Red Deer © Neepimages, Skylarks Nature Reserve © Graham Roberts, Starfish © Amy Lewis, Water Vole © Tom Marshall, Dormouse Box Installation © Lorna Griffiths, Dexter Cow © Ann Biddle, Bluebells at Clifton Grove © Graham J Shaw, Children with Apples © NWT, Aquatic Minibeast ID © Jack Perks, Volunteer Hay Raking © The Wildlife Trusts, back cover (Skylarks) © Graham RobertsOur ‘Skylarks Appeal’ has

helped us secure over £1million of investment for habitat

restoration and community focused education activities. © Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, November 2014