Wildlife Trusts partnership

The Wildlife Trusts partnership is the UK’s leading conservation charity exclusively dedicated to wildlife. Our network of 47 local Wildlife Trusts, work together to protect wildlife in towns and the countryside.

We care for over 2,560 nature reserves from rugged coastline to urban wildlife havens. With more than 413,000 members, and unparalleled grass roots expertise, The Wildlife Trusts lobby for better protection of the UK's natural heritage and are dedicated to protecting wildlife for the future.

Working at both national and local level we are a network of independent wildlife charities, and urban wildlife groups.

Raising the awareness of the public and government to wildlife threats is central to our role. Through monitoring and collecting data we demonstrate an accurate picture of habitats and species that need our protection and have developed a reputation for our objectivity and knowledge.

The specialist skills and enthusiasm of our volunteers and the vast experience of our conservationists enables The Wildlife Trusts to manage hundreds of projects, campaigns and organise thousands of activities. Over the years our work has made a lasting difference to UK wildlife, including the Water for Wildlife Initiative, the water quality project Riverwatch and the dormouse re-introduction programme.

The Royal Society for Nature Conservation, a charity by Royal Charter, is the governing body of The Wildlife Trusts. We receive funding from the Department of Environment, Transport and Regions but rely heavily upon the generosity of our supporters, through sponsorship, membership subscriptions, gifts, legacies and the contributions of many thousands of volunteers.

We believe passionately that wildlife is essential to a healthy environment for human beings and we work with people from all walks of life – central and local government, industry, landowners, communities and families – to make sure nature gets a chance among all the pressures of the modern world

Our mission

To achieve a UK richer in wildlife through the protection and enhancement of focal species and habitats, both common and rare.

To achieve public recognition that a healthy environment, rich in wildlife and managed on sustainable principles, is essential for continued human existence.

Working in partnership with others

The Wildlife Trusts benefit from association with companies who wish to contribute towards the improved environment and quality of life that are central to our aims.

We receive support from businesses for conservation projects at local, regional and national levels. This support can take many forms, including financial help, donations of equipment, training, staff secondment and guidance and advice in many business disciplines.

A brief history of the Wildlife Trusts

• 1912 - The Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (SPNR) was established by Charles Rothschild in 1912. He compiled a list of 240 special “nature sites” with a vision to promote them as worthy of protection. He did this by setting up a network of nature reserves through the co-operative efforts of government, landowners and naturalists.
• 1919 - SPNR acquired its first nature reserve, Woodwalton Fen, Cambridgeshire.
• 1926 - The Norfolk Naturalists’ Trust was established to purchase Cley Marshes in Norfolk, which became the first Trust reserve acquired in the same year.
• 1948 - The Lincolnshire Naturalists’ Trust was established, followed by several more in the 1950s such as West Wales in 1956, West Midlands in 1957 and Surrey in 1959.
• 1962 - Christopher Cadbury became President of SPNR.
• 1964 - With the formation of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, 36 Trusts covered the whole of the UK.
• 1968 - The first major Trust visitor centre opened at Woods Mill, Sussex.
• 1970 - The badger logo first appeared on a ‘in-house’ newsletter called Conservation Review.
• 1976 - By the mid 1970s, the total membership of the Trusts had risen to 100,000 and the number of nature reserves to 850 covering almost 60,000 acres.
• 1976 - SPNR changed its name to the Society for the Promotion of Nature Conservation to reflect its broader role beyond nature reserves.
• 1977 - The junior branch, Wildlife Watch, is formed and in the same year HRH The Prince of Wales became its Patron.
• 1981 - The Society changed its name to the Royal Society for Nature Conservation (RSNC) and its UK magazine, Natural World is launched.
• Reflecting growing public interest in the environment, there was a phenomenal increase in the number of reserves acquired in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Education and work in urban areas started to develop fast.
• 1992 - The Urban Wildlife Partnership is formed to co-ordinate the urban wildlife movement in the UK.
• 1995 - The name 'The Wildlife Trusts’ is chosen as the name by which the partnership of local Trusts was to become known. Many of the local Trusts changed their name to include “Wildlife Trust” and began using the badger logo as part of the UK identity.
• 1995 - Dr. Simon Lyster was appointed to lead the partnership as its first Director General.
• 1996 - The Wildlife Trusts received a £25 million commitment from the Heritage Lottery Fund to underake capital works on its nature reserves.
• 1997 - The Wildlife Trusts became part of a partnership that launched an appeal and succeeded in buying Eigg, a spectacular island off the west coast of Scotland.
• 1998 - The Water UK and The Wildlife Trusts Otters and Rivers Project was launched, a major £1.5 million UK-wide programme aiming to bring back the otter to all UK rivers by 2010.
• 2000 - Essex Wildlife Trust bought Abbotts Hall Farm, 170 acres of salt marsh, coastal grassland and mudflats with around 550 acres of conventional arable farmland, and thus working on the UK’s largest ever managed retreat project.
• 2001 - Glamorgan Wildlife Trust and West Wales Wildlife Trust merge to become The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales reducing the number of Trusts in the partnrship to 46.
• 2002 - Membership of The Wildlife Trusts passed the 400,000 figure.

The Wildlife Trusts is chosen as the name by which the partnership is to be known nationally and many Trusts change their name to include "Wildlife Trust" and begin using the badger logo as part of a national identity.

Other items that may be of interest:

• Wildlife Trust Books available from Amazon.co.uk

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