Essex Wildlife Trust Annual Review 2017 Celebrating a wild year in Essex Protecting Wildlife for the Future and for the People of Essex From the Chairman I am delighted to welcome you to the 2017 Annual Review for Essex Wildlife Trust, my second year as your Chair of Trustees. I am very pleased to report that the Trust continues to strengthen and to grow in so many positive ways. We now have more than 37,000 members across Essex, more than ever before – so, a huge thanks to each and every one of you for supporting our work. The footfall across our 11 visitor centres topped the 1,000,000 mark for the first time, showing that there is an ever- increasing interest in the wildlife and natural landscapes of our beautiful county. As a result, the tills in our shops and cafés rang like never before, generating much needed additional income for the conservation work across our network of reserves. We delivered record numbers of education sessions and children’s birthday parties, engaging with thousands of young people. At a time when the Brexit process continues to offer an uncertain picture for the long-term future for some of our key sources of income, it is heartening to see our core activities go from strength to strength, building firm foundations for the years ahead. Of course, none of this would be possible without the input of our dedicated and inspirational staff team, together with the exceptional contribution and commitment of our army of volunteers, who support the organisation in so many different ways – river and coastal wardens, kitchen helpers, visitor centres ‘meeters and greeters’, reserves work party members, magazine deliverers and so many more. Thank you to you all. The return of ‘Ratty’: In stark contrast to the majority of the UK, Stewart Goshawk, Water Voles are fighting back from near extinction in Essex, thanks Terry Whittaker / 2020VISION Terry Chair, Essex Wildlife Trust to a decade of conservation projects led by Essex Wildlife Trust. Highlights this year include: • As our Water Vole Recovery • The Trust worked with and Project celebrates its 10th reached more people than ever anniversary, we continue to before. We welcomed more help Water Voles return to than 1,000,000 visitors to our Essex, in contrast to a 30% visitor centres in 2017 and were Our membership is at a record high; here, national decline. supported by 37,200 members – members enjoy a guided walk at Abberton both record numbers. Reservoir nature reserve. Daniel Bridge 2 Essex Wildlife Trust | Annual Review 2017 “A huge thanks Ensuring that to each and wildlife is thriving every one of you • With the fundamental help of our supporters we purchased and now protect an additional 4.2 acres of grazing marsh at Wrabness, on for supporting Mark Hamblin / 2020VISION the Stour Estuary. This land acquisition has our work. enabled wildlife to move safely between our Wrabness nature reserve and the green burial ground, forever. • Until recently our native Black Honey Bee was believed to be extinct in the UK. However, we have worked in partnership with Essex & Suffolk Water and the Bee Lapwing: A species of highest conservation concern that is already Breeders Association to re-introduce benefiting from our land purchase at Black Honey Bees to Essex, using hives Wrabness and the successful completion at Abberton Reservoir. of our Essex Grazing Marsh Project. • The Essex Grazing Marsh project was completed in 2017, enabling Essex Wildlife Trust to restore and extend a fast declining and important habitat in Essex. This innovative conservation project was supported by WREN and some very generous donors. • Our Essex Barn Owl Conservation Project continues to gather momentum. In 2017 we ringed 85 chicks born in boxes erected by this partnership project (compared to 55 in 2016 and 24 in 2015). We have installed more than 250 nest boxes across Bee happy: Staff and bee experts monitor Essex since the project began, in 2013. Abberton Reservoir’s Black Honey Bees, filmed by crews from both BBC and ITV. Front cover: Little Owl, by Andy Rouse / 2020VISION. • Our education programme is reaching more secondary schools than ever: 3,400 secondary school children enjoyed education sessions on our sites in 2017. Also, the number of adults we have trained to lead their own Forest School tripled from 2016 to 2017. Mud, mud, glorious mud: Forest School fun at Abbotts Hall Farm. Essex Wildlife Trust | Annual Review 2017 3 Inspiring people to engage with wildlife • Our events programme is growing • It was a privilege to welcome Chris with the aim to inspire more people Packham, the hugely respected to protect and learn about our naturalist, wildlife campaigner and wonderful wildlife. Our broadcaster, to Abbotts Hall visitor centres held Farm in September, for a more than 2,500 special, sell-out, fundraising Carol Durrell events. Membership event. ‘An Evening with Children at our The Wind in the Willows is fundamental to Chris Packham’, full of themed trail at Hanningfield Reservoir and supporting our work, enthusiasm, passion pond-dipping at Abbotts Hall Farm. so in 2017 we held a and inspiration to protect number of ‘new member our environment for the events’ to share our future, enthralled the work with our important 600 attendees. membership supporters. • Through our diverse activities • Essex Wildlife Trust would not be and schemes, we interacted with as successful as it is today without approximately 55,000 children in its volunteers; as a small token of Essex in 2017. Informal education our appreciation we held our first all- events at our visitor centres, including volunteer thank you event in 2017, at pre-school groups, weekend events Abbotts Hall Farm. It was wonderful and holidays activities, welcomed Carol Durrell to see so many of our 1,500 regular close to 24,000 children in 2017 – volunteers there. 5,000 more than in 2016. A spectacular shot of a special evening, as we welcomed Chris Packham and supporters to an exclusive event in a marquee in the Abbotts Hall Farm gardens. Daniel Bridge 4 Essex Wildlife Trust | Annual Review 2017 Darren Tansley, Water for Wildlife Officer, with The return of the native: that Polecats are BBC Countryfile’s Ellie Harrison, at Titchmarsh re-establishing themselves in parts of Marina, Walton-on-the-Naze. Essex was exciting news and captured the imagination of many of our followers. Smith Elliot The Hawfinch: one of the species you Delivering a helped us collate records of in 2017. greater voice for wildlife • We extended our reach and diversified our engagement through social media in 2017. On Facebook we produced over 100 videos, achieving 250,000 views, while on Twitter we had more than 2,000,000 impressions. Overall, we doubled our engagement on both Twitter Price and Facebook. On Instagram our followers increased by 400%. Karl • Our annual 30 Days Wild campaign, • We encouraged supporters to help • We reached millions of viewers by which encourages people to do us protect and understand key filming with BBC national television something ‘wild’, every day in June, species, by asking them to submit in 2017. We talked about seals took off in 2017. More than 1,600 their sightings. These records gave us in the Walton Backwaters with people participated in Essex – twice vital information, including about the Countryfile and the wildlife of as many as 2016 – and we inspired native Polecat’s return to our county, Tollesbury Wick with The One Show. our social media followers by posting the status of the vulnerable Turtle Other primetime television included daily videos of our wild activities and Dove, and the remarkable ‘irruption’ features with BBC Look East, BBC wildlife, attracting 46,000 views. of Hawfinches into Essex in late 2017. Inside Out and ITV Anglia. Essex WildlifeTrust @EssexWildlife Essex WildlifeTrust Essex WildlifeTrust essexwildlifetrust Photography Essex Wildlife Trust | Annual Review 2017 5 The future The Trust continues to make exciting progress delivering on its key charitable objectives and throughout the organisation we are building on those 58 years of experience. When I’m out and about in Essex speaking to stakeholders, it’s very apparent that the Trust has a reputation for really delivering on our ambitions, with the upmost integrity and total commitment. It’s a tough time to be a charity, with that does not prevent us from leading “I want us to be ambitious intense competition for memberships by example, or challenging the status and innovative in our and an ever decreasing pot of funds. quo, as and when we believe it is right Despite this, the Trust continues to to do so. thinking and where punch above its weight in a large and possible, for the Trust to I want us to be ambitious and varied county, where there are multiple be proactive, as opposed challenges, linked to complex socio- innovative in our thinking and where economic drivers. possible, for the Trust to be proactive, to reactive. as opposed to reactive. With so many As much as I’d love to proclaim that species and habitats to protect, the “we’ve pretty much got wildlife challenge will undoubtedly be to covered”, the issues that we face are prioritise our efforts, because we far too big for just one organisation to obviously want to invest our resources tackle. More than ever before in our where they are going to deliver the history, we are reliant upon strong greatest impact for conservation. partnerships to deliver meaningful With sound strategic planning and Andrew Impey, CEO and lasting impact. Therefore, in all strong financial management, I have aspects of our work going forward, no doubts that we can continue we will look to leverage upon the skills to achieve great things for wildlife and experience of others.