Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust expert reviews all work done by organisation in 2023

As we look forward to a successful year ahead, I wanted to reflect on some of the ways in which Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust has made the county a little wilder over the past 12 months thanks to the support of our members, donors and volunteers. Writes Erin McDaid, of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

In January, our Nature Recovery team oversaw new hedge-laying at one of the many farms we’re helping make more welcoming for wildlife through our partnership with Severn Trent – supporting iconic farmland species such as the yellow hammer.

February might be short but it's always busy. Volunteers helped our Nature Recovery (North) team install 500 metres of deer-proof fencing to protect regenerating coppice growth at Treswell Wood near Retford.

To make the job more sustainable we used hazel stakes harvested from our woodlands, scrap timber and biodegradable twine.

In March, volunteers including young people of our Keeping it Wild team helped save over 600 toads at toad crossing points.

We supplied vital data to the County Recorder and Froglife as well as helped train local toad patrollers in amphibian identification.

New viewpoints, benches, maps way markers around Belmoor Lake at Idle Valley Nature Reserve, supported by the FCC Communities Foundation, went down a treat with visitors.

As April arrived our Three Rivers Project Team were busy surveying water courses in Sherwood Forest where we plan to restore water flows affected by fast draining sandstones and the historic impacts of mining subsidence.

We provide the last line of defence for wildlife habitats under threat and the month saw us lodge and objection to proposals to extract huge volumes of pulverized fuel ash from land next to Idle Valley Nature Reserve.

Our livestock team, based at the Idle Valley Nature Reserve, supervised a smooth lambing and calving season which welcomed 173 lambs and 13 calves to our nature grazing programme - so vital to maintaining and enhancing our wildflower meadows and heaths.

The month of May marked 60 years since the inaugural meeting of the Trust.

The University of Nottingham kindly hosted a special celebration attended by representatives of organisations we’ve worked with right from the start and our staff celebrated at our flagship reserves and office in the City Centre.

During the annual 30 Days Wild celebration in June, the garden area behind Attenborough Nature Centre was transformed thanks to a generous donation from a family trust and the efforts of volunteers from Beeston Wildlife Group.

Nottingham’s annual Green Hustle was bigger and better than ever, providing us with a platform to encourage hundreds of people to act for nature and the climate in their daily lives.

In July, news that City Council would ‘put the ‘marsh’ back into Broadmarsh’ underlined just how much progress had been made since the Trust announced its vision for the area back in 2021.

Exciting new visuals of how the ‘Green Heart’ might look, plus news that funding to get the work underway was in place provided a real lift.

The Trust’s ambitious efforts to restore priority habitats on nature reserves across the north of the county including Idle Valley and Misson Carr, was recognised in the Large-scale Nature Conservation & NGO Impact Categories at the prestigious Chartered Institute of Ecology & Environmental Management (CIEEM) Awards.

August saw 60th Anniversary celebration events at Idle Valley & Attenborough nature reserves to highlight the wonderful wildlife of these much-loved sites and ways people can do their bit for nature and climate.

September saw succeed at both the Traditional and Native Breeds National Show & Sales in Melton Mowbray and the Collingham Show — including a Supreme Champion award for one of our Hebridean Ewes — brought the Trust’s nature grazing programme into focus and demonstrated that we have farming, as well as conservation credentials.

In October, efforts to create extensive reedbed at Attenborough Nature Reserve gathered pace and new trip cam footage from Idle Valley NR confirmed what we’d hoped – our new beaver pair had produced three rather than two kits.

November brought news of almost £500,000 funding via the Environment Agency to support habitat creation and control of non-native mink provided light at the end of the tunnel for the county’s beleaguered water vole population.

As the year drew to a close, December was a time to reflect on the success of the past 60 years and plan for the future.

We've received a heart-warming response and we’re keen to hear from as many people as possible.