Devon Wildlife Trust’s income My name is Matt Boydell. Together with my and spend in 2019-20 dedicated team I look after Wildlife Trust’s 58 nature reserves. It’s a huge

Commercial trading challenge to sustain these places as havens Thanks to the generosity of our supporters and the 5% for wildlife and people, and just one of the Your great work undertaken by the charity, 2019-20 saw Gi s, donations and corporate support another strong financial performance for Devon Grants and ways that we’re working for nature across Wildlife Trust. charitable trusts 7% 30% the county. We secured income of £5,406,904 against Legacies Support expenditure of £4,369,391. This gave us a surplus 10% Winter 2019-20 for the year of £1,037,513 enabling us to grow We’re able to meet this challenge because of the our strategic reserves – funds that we will use community of support that exists around us. We thought 2019 was a momentous year but 2020 over this Strategic Plan period to support key Trust has tested us even more and in very different ways. objectives and ensure that we can thrive into the This Devon Wildlife Trust community includes: Covid-19 has cast a long shadow over the year, but it future. Gifts in Wills from generous individuals have hasn’t stopped this being an amazing 12 months for played a key role in building our financial resilience • Our 35,000 members Devon Wildlife Trust. in 2019-20. Membership Topping the bill was the Government’s decision to allow Once again, the vast majority - 87% - of our 23% • Our 300 volunteers the beavers on the River Otter to remain and spread. spending was on the delivery of charitable activity. This is a true landmark in conservation history, being Contract services We spent 5% on governance and resources and • Our county-wide network of the first reintroduction of an extinct native mammal in 8% on commercial trading. At DWT we always 25% volunteer-led Local Groups . work with effectiveness and efficiency at the Our Action for Insects campaign was another huge forefront of our minds and everyone at DWT - Devon Wildlife Trust’s income in 2019-20 • The charitable trusts, foundations, success reaching 45 million people and generating 81 whether delivering direct conservation activity or Total £5,406,904 businesses and grant giving bodies pieces of media coverage. We continue to push for a 50% supporting the organisation behind the scenes - is reduction in pesticide use. committed to our cause and goes the extra mile for who support us Resources and After our successful acquisition of land to expand Devon’s wildlife. Every penny we spend at DWT governance supports our mission. • All those who donate to our Lower East Lounston nature reserve in January, we 5% Commercial trading announced our 58th nature reserve, Ideford Common, As always, we must thank the many individuals, 8% fundraising appeals in early November. Extending over 40 hectares of grant giving bodies, trusts and businesses who Nature reserves and Wildlife recording (Devon the Haldon ridge, this is reputedly the finest piece of land management • The people who choose to leave continue to support our work. With Covid-19 Biodiversity Records Centre) lowland heath west of the and a haven for presenting real practical and financial challenges for 48% 9% a gift to us in their Will the nightjar, adder and other rare species. us, at a time when the work we do is more urgent As our departure from the EU looms, the Agriculture, than ever, we simply couldn’t do it without you. Fisheries and Environment bills have all returned to Please see our full Annual Report and Accounts on Your support is making a world of difference parliament. We continue to lobby hard for improvements our website for more details. If you want to support Membership to Devon’s wildlife. Thank you to you all. to these laws. The Planning White Paper is proposing us and get involved in our work, please do not 10% some alarming changes to the land use planning system, hesitate to get in touch. Matt Boydell proposing areas where development has permission Nature Reserves Manager, Devon Wildlife Trust in principle with no local ability to control it. With your support we have lobbied hard to prevent crucial environmental protections being undermined. Advocacy, education Penny Mason and engagement As the year comes to a close, we are reviewing our Director of Resources 20% charity’s long-term strategy, and we will be putting the and Marketing ecological and climate crises at its heart. The challenges For a fuller list of the people and organisations who support Devon Wildlife Trust ahead are immense, but public support for action to Devon Wildlife Trust’s expenditure in 2019-20 go to www.devonwildlifetrust.org/what-we-do/about-us/our-supporters Total £4,369,391 tackle these crises has never been higher. And thanks to Emsworthy Mire nature reserve. Photo: Isaac Ogden you, our amazing members and supporters, we are well placed to meet them. Devon Wildlife Trust Follow us on social media. Cricklepit Mill Commercial Road Photo: Nick Hook A charity you can trust EX2 4AB Your support really As a member of the Fundraising Regulator, Devon Wildlife Trust follows the Code of Fundraising Practice. We make a is making a world of public promise to adhere to best practice, honesty, transparency, clarity and accountability in all fundraising activity. Telephone: 01392 279244 Harry Barton Printed in Devon using vegetable based inks on recycled paper. difference to Devon’s Email: [email protected] Devon Wildlife Trust is a registered charity, number 213224. wildlife. Thank you. Chief Executive, Devon Wildlife Trust www.devonwildlifetrust.org Vat no. 585473501

See our full audited accounts at www.devonwildlifetrust.org Support DWT at www.devonwildlifetrust.org www.devonwildlifetrust.org Protecting Wildlife for the Future It was a stop-start year for our Devon Wildlife Trust: Education Team. But it was only We retained our during the weeks of lockdown that they Environmental Management had to suspend their normal routine System accreditation ISO our recent highlights of making school visits and teaching 14001, and invested in new the value of nature to Devon’s children. resources which will help This is what your support has allowed us to achieve for local wildlife Even with social distancing and limits us develop and implement to group numbers, the team were able plans to reduce our carbon to continue in their important task. emissions to net zero by 2030. It has been a history-making year for our work with beavers. It began with the submission to the Government of the River Otter Beaver Trial’s Our Wembury Marine Centre fell victim to 132-page Science and Evidence Report. This the Covid-19 pandemic as it remained closed was the key document upon which a decision during the spring and summer seasons. on five year’s of work and the fate of Devon’s 2020 saw progress on two projects which promise to develop natural solutions to flooding. We gained funding from the However, staff were busy planning for when (and England’s) first wild beaver population for Wembury’s marine education activities more than 400 years was made. In August the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for the Caen Wetlands (near Braunton) – an innovative project which will explore the can begin again in 2021. Look out for a taste Government’s decision was announced: of what is to come with the launch of the Devon Wildlife Trust feasibility of securing ‘natural capital’ investments for A newly built bat roost saw its first residents Devon’s beavers could stay and would be Centre’s new website in January. allowed to spread to neighbouring rivers. ended the year with flood risk management, habitat creation and wider public occupying it within weeks of completion. The nearly 35,000 members. benefits from a dynamic landscape in . Further roost was the result of cooperation between Thank you for your loyal south, the Natural Flood Management our Devon Greater Horseshoe Bat Project support – it is making project, supported by the Environment Agency, began The creation of 22 new and the Axe Valley & District Conservation Ideford Common became a world of difference to its efforts to improve natural habitats to reduce flooding ponds at Emsworthy Society and Area of Outstanding our 58th and newest nature local wildlife. impacts on the local community. Mire was just one of the Natural Beauty. The specially adapted reserve. With wonderful highlights in a series of building was quickly colonised by both views over the Teign Valley improvements across our greater and lesser horseshoe bats – species and , its 40 hectares 58 nature reserves. Hedge that have struggled to find suitable roosting contain some of the best It was a busy year of speaking up for wildlife. Our headline bank planting at Bellever places in recent decades. remaining heathland in the campaigns included Action for Insects, and the launch of Moor and Meadows, an South West. 30by30, which is asking for 30% of the UK’s land and seas expansion to the size of to be connected and protected for wildlife by the year 2030. Lower East Lounston and Meanwhile, Devon Wildlife Trust also promoted the national wildflower planting at Marine Education Planning for Change campaign which looked to put the Ludwell Valley Park were Officer, Coral Smith needs of the natural world at the heart of the Government’s others. was part of a team Our Northern Devon Nature Our Working Wetlands project proposed reforms to the planning system. Thank you to the who delivered a series Improvement Area project completed its five-year Upstream hundreds of you who responded to these campaigns. of public workshops Our national campaign Action for Insects across the South West held 30 workshops for Thinking programme. The project team people have local farmers in which they has worked with nearly 500 farmers built momentum. Nearly 20,000 Restrictions on social on how to identify shared tips and techniques to reduce pesticide use and pollution in pledged their support so far. We’ve been gatherings meant our and then deal with regular calendar of wildlife for more sustainable land six of Devon’s major river catchments. busy helping them by producing guides for More than 57,000 people now see our daily updates on non-native species events moved on-line. We management. The project The Working Wetlands team is about to schools, communities and individuals on how social media. 20,000 people also keep up to date with our in freshwater and offered a series of free talks team also worked with local embark on a further five years of effort to take practical steps to reversing insect work for wildlife via regular e-newsletters. If you don’t yet marine environments. ranging from ‘Rewilding’ farmers to restore or re-create thanks to funding from South West Water. declines. The guides are free to download receive these free news bulletins, then turn your inbox It’s estimated that from the Devon Wildlife Trust website. and ‘Beavers’ to ‘Action the damage caused to more than 125 hectares of wild by signing up at www.devonwildlifetrust.org Our East Devon visitor attraction for Insects’ and ‘Creating human infrastructure, wildlife-rich Culm grassland. Seaton Jurassic addressed this Wildflower Meadows’. Some to business and to most challenging of years by of the events saw more than native wildlife by non- ensuring that when it re-opened 500 people signing up from native species costs the The Wildlife Trust’s annual 30 Days Wild campaign to visitors in July it was Covid-19 Devon and beyond. Look UK economy up to £100 It has been a frustrating year for our volunteers. seemed to strike a special chord this year. A record compliant. Feedback from visitors out for more in 2021 on the million each year. Two lockdowns put a temporary halt to the efforts of was universally supportive of our 3,500 people in Devon signed up to take part in ‘What’s on’ pages of our the 300 people who regularly dedicate their time to new measures which included ‘random acts of wildness’ designed to get people to website. us. But between these periods some volunteering did enjoy the natural world local to them. timed entry tickets. During October resume, particularly on our nature reserves where half-term we promoted DWT’s it was easier to observe social distancing. We look Saving Devon’s Treescapes project forward to welcoming back all volunteers in 2021. Devon Wildlife Trust continued to make by displaying local artist Marcus media headlines in 2020. Among more New work began in the shape of our Torridge River Vergette’s wonderful Chalara Tower, than 100 TV and radio appearances, We retained our Investors (TRRP). This ambitious initiative will see while also distributing saplings to Restoration Project highlights included our Devon Greater in People accreditation this more than invested over two years in capital works to visitors to take home and plant. £400,000 Horseshoe Bat Project featuring on year and continue to hold improve the health and wildlife richness of the Devon river. The Our ‘tree wall’ flourished with The Devon Biodiversity Records Centre (DBRC), hosted BBC1’s Countryfile, while news of the Investing in Volunteers status, project was made possible after a successful application for a Water 250 pledges from people; each of by DWT, ensured that 12 new County Wildlife Sites were River Otter Beaver Trial’s success was demonstrating our commitment Environment Grant through the Rural Development Programme them committing to take positive designated this year. DBRC also increased its data holdings beamed around the planet via Al Jazeera, to proper support for the staff and for England and the Environment Agency. environmental action at home. We to 5.5 million records (from 4.6m last year) making it one of BBC World Service and the news channel volunteers we depend on. look forward to 2021 with optimism. the UK’s leading regional centres for wildlife recording. of The World Economic Forum.

Photos: Rachel Scopes, Nick Upton, Martin Batt, David Chamberlain, David Tipling, Kevin New, Kevin McDonagh, Alex Mustard and Isaac Ogden