Annual Review2018/2019 Welcome to our Our Impact Annual Review Our land Our people Our reach We manage 85 nature 11 trustees oversee 21 face-to-face reserves covering governance and meetings with 2018 - 2019 2,636ha of land strategic leadership local MPs Public awareness of the environment has never been so high, this year overtaking terrorism and affordable 1,012ha of woodland, 25,155 Additional 1,782ha housing in a list of Britons’ top priorities. of which 479ha are memberships of privately owned ancient woodland support our work land influenced for ampaigning and telling compelling stories clearly works. Sir David the benefit of Attenborough says enough is enough. Oceans of plastic soup are wildlife through our C no longer palatable, while the rise of social activism has forced the 1,184ha grazed by Over 1,800 advice Government to acknowledge ecological breakdown. livestock to maintain volunteers, including wildlife-rich habitats 54 key volunteers Each of us must take action to change our habits but only government can 11,904 lead the radical shake-up of legislation that’s necessary. The draft Environment, schoolchildren Agriculture and Fisheries Bills, together with the likelihood of more Marine 358ha cut for hay to 32,000 visited our Protected Areas, looks promising for nature’s recovery on land and sea. encourage wild flower volunteer education centres diversity in meadows sessions Lobbying our parliamentary representatives has been a major focus of our work this year. For the first time we met all 21 of our MPs, including the then Nearly 15,000 Prime Minister Theresa May. I am convinced that collectively The Wildlife Trusts We care for 10% of 63 volunteer planning have influenced national legislation and local plans to bring about nature’s the remaining working groups applications recovery. We will continue to invest in this crucial advocacy. Our vision floodplain meadows screened, prompting An environment rich in wildlife, valued by all. (MG4) in the UK 138 in-depth Local businesses are taking note too, recognising that the state of nature responses impacts their bottom line. This year the number of businesses in our Investors 56 Wildlife in Wildlife Programme almost doubled from 22 to 42. 330 biological surveys Traineeships Our mission carried out on our 400 public As pressures on the landscape continue to increase, the preservation of our To create a Living Landscape across our nature reserves events, attracting nature reserves remains essential. These enchanting places offer havens for towns, cities and countryside and inspire our 57,000 people wildlife and magical moments that captivate our hearts and minds. Many communities to act for nature. 150 members of staff are remnants of lost landscapes. Now they take on a crucial role as stepping 4 education centres, dedicated to nature’s stones for nature’s imminent recovery. Our ambition is high. 2 visitor centres and 1 recovery 42 Investors in environmental centre Wildlife corporate This third year of delivering our Strategic Plan 2016-2021: Be part of Nature’s Our aim partners Recovery has been a whirlwind of activity for our education and community To lead the way for nature’s recovery and ha=hectare, 25,769 followers engagement teams. Nearly 400 events, including major high-profile events connect people with nature, so that: (which is the size of a rugby pitch) on social media such as our Oxford and Milton Keynes Festivals of Nature attracted many Unique thousands of people to discover local wildlife for themselves. website visits n Our soil and water resources are managed reached 877,942 Thank you to all of you for your continued support. It is your generosity that to create functioning ecosystems and ensures we can look after wildlife in perpetuity while giving more people the wildlife-rich places. opportunity to fall in love with nature. 206 media articles n Local communities, decision-makers, or broadcasts landowners and businesses work with and for nature. 225,100 visitors to We’re helping to protect College Lake and Estelle Bailey n People recognise their dependence upon iconic butterflies such as the Nature Chief Executive, Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust Discovery Centre nature and its value to their mental and the silver-washed fritillary September 2019 physical wellbeing. 2 Annual Review 2018/2019 | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust Annual Review 2018/2019 | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust 3 New record of more than 150 southern damselflies at Parsonage Moor. Wild Oxford volunteers hard at work at Lye Our year Valley Nature Reserve. in focus Staff from Costain on a ‘Wild Wellbeing Day’ at Warburg Nature Reserve. Juvenile cranes make a special appearance on the Upper Ray Meadows Another 55 badgers successfully vaccinated against bovine TB. Peak count of 33 silver-studded blue butterflies at Wildmoor Heath. More than 1,600 military orchids on the march in Buckinghamshire. Record numbers of fledgling lapwings and terns at College Lake Space to unwind at the Nature Discovery Centre’s new waterfront. Sun, fun and wildlife at the Oxford Festival of Nature Wild Fair. New website launches with improved content and a fresher look. 4 Annual Review 2018/2019 | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust Annual Review 2018/2019 | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust 5 Making the links Restore land Restore in West Berkshire so it is rich in land so it is Hilary Phillips, Living Landscapes Manager for Berkshire, shares the outcomes of our five-year Linking the Landscape project. The Linking the Landscape Project completed in January. Made possible by rich in wildlife a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project focussed on the nature reserves and wider countryside of the West Berkshire Living Landscape, with people and wildlife at its core. Its aims were to inspire residents to make Wildlife in our three counties is under threat like strong links with their natural heritage and to reconnect broken links in the never before. BBOWT’s 85 nature reserves are landscape in order to create vital corridors and stepping stones for wildlife. essential havens – the jewels in our crown – where wildlife still thrives, poised to spread out into the Over the course of the project some 450 volunteers underwent training, wider landscape as soon as conditions allow. contributing more than 5,000 days of their time. Volunteer time was boosted by 22 Conservation Trainees (see page 15) who together gave an average of 369 days a year to the project. ha 2.3 Landowners were helped with writing and delivering management plans hile it is essential that these reserves flourish, we must Woodland newly to improve and restore habitat on almost 10ha of land. Volunteers were also also reach out to local landowners, government and coppiced granted access in order to complete regular surveys to establish the health W other partners to restore the wildlife value of the of the landscape and assess the impact of our work. countryside beyond our reserves so that together we can work towards nature’s recovery on a truly landscape-scale. By modelling the potential for habitat connections we were able to focus our work to ensure the most effective gains for wildlife. Work included As we reached the halfway point of our Strategic Plan 2016 – 2021: creating new glades, rides and coppiced areas within woodlands, clearing Be part of Nature’s Recovery, our Living Landscapes delivered old gravel extraction sites of encroaching willow and cutting and raking promising progress in this area. areas of grassland. Trees overshadowing waterways were managed to let in ha more light and islands cleared to create safe breeding sites for wetland birds. In West Berkshire, the conclusion of the Linking the Landscape 15 Project has seen areas of grassland and heathland habitat within Grassland All that hard graft has paid off. Three tern rafts were colonised within weeks the project area increase by almost 10% and 8% respectively. managed for the of deployment, culminating in the successful rearing of chicks. Scrub Meanwhile in East Berkshire, work on a new Living Landscape has benefit of wildlife clearance from half a hectare of reeds has brought a Site of Special Scientific already begun to bear fruit. Workshops are helping volunteers Interest back into healthy condition, while last year lapwing returned to there to improve wildlife identification and monitoring skills and Crookham Common for the first time in eight years. events are in the pipeline to demonstrate to landowners how they can better manage their land for wildlife. The project has made a measurable difference to both the area and connectivity of key habitats. Our experiences were presented to 27 other Over at Gallows Bridge Farm, part of the Bernwood Forest and conservation organisations in a workshop designed to share best practice in Ray Valley Living Landscape, work to create and restore scrapes landscape-scale monitoring of wildlife and natural systems. is providing more opportunities for wading birds. We continue to 9.7% work with organisations such as Natural England and the RSPB Increase in who share our vision and are actively supporting new conservation projects for the River Ray itself. grassland habitat Chimney Meadows is the focus of our work to influence nature restoration in the Upper Thames Living Landscape. Following the purchase of land at Duxford Old River in 2017, we have developed proposals to restore wetland on 41 hectares of floodplain and free- Our work benefits up the passage of fish through the landscape. species such as the Dartford warbler Ongoing efforts at Chimney to restore arable fields to wildflower meadow have been so successful that the Local Wildlife Site has 8.1% now been extended to include a further 70 hectares of previously Increase in arable land. Monitoring reveals that more than 140 species of bird heathland habitat have been recorded at Chimney Meadows since 2003 thanks to habitat restoration.