BBOWT Wilder - our vision for 2021-26

Five year strategic plan

WILDER More Nature Everywhere

Our ‘Wilder’ plan for 2021-2026 sets one simple overarching aim: to create more nature everywhere. To do this, we need to inspire people to take action and we need to do all we can to restore wilder landscapes.

Our ambition for wildlife is bigger, bolder and wilder than ever before. To achieve our long-term goal of nature being in recovery we want to see 30% of the land across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire well managed for nature by 2030.

‘Wilder’ will build on the ambition and achievements of our 2016-2021 plan ‘Be Part of Nature’s Recovery’ to continue the journey to our new 2030 goal and beyond.

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Welcome to

WILDER

A message from our CEO and Chair

O

ur ‘Wilder’ plan for 2021-26 sets out the Berks Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust’s vision to secure nature’s recovery across our three counties. It’s an ambitious plan, but it has to be. With wildlife in freefall and our climate in crisis, nature has never needed us more urgently.

We need nature too - for food, fresh water, clean air and our own wellbeing. The COVID19 pandemic has shown us all how a healthy natural world is vital for our very survival.

Yet we are still destroying nature at an alarming rate. Inappropriate development and intensive food production are fragmenting wild spaces and poisoning our environment. This doesn’t have to be the case; it is possible to build and farm with nature.

Imagine a world without bees or birds, hedgehogs or butterflies. We cannot stand by as our wildlife disappears. We must protect and restore our natural world for our children and their children’s children. The responsibility is on all of us.

Our ‘Wilder’ plan outlines how we can achieve more nature everywhere - through people power.

Working together with communities in towns and rural areas, with farmers and landowners, local authorities, developers and partners - we can bring nature back from the brink.

Our Nature Recovery Network will help us piece together and reconnect our spaces for nature – like a giant, wild jigsaw puzzle - so that wildlife thrives and our climate can begin to recover. © up the pieces, do your We know we can’t solve this puzzle on our own. We need you to help us pick bit to help complete the picture and create a wilder future for nature, for climate and for people.

© Marijn Bouwhuis/Shutterstock. Cover image James Adler.

Will you be part of the solution?

Estelle Bailey Chief Executive

Joanna Davidson CBE Chair of Trustees

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I

n the last five years we’ve seen a huge shift in environmental awareness, which is now ranked as the third most important concern for voters. We’re seeing climate strikes and scores of local nature action groups setting up in our region.

Nature conservation is evolving at pace, with a landscape-scale approach now championed across the UK and the vision of rewilding a reality.

The state of nature

W

e are in a climate and nature crisis. Globally, populations of birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles have declined by a shocking 68% on average since 1970. One million species are at risk of extinction. We’re wiping wildlife off the map.

A climate emergency has been declared in 28 countries and the world has warmed 1°C since pre-industrial times. Climate change is impacting wildlife locally - from habitats damaged by extreme weather, to changes in species distribution, and lifecycles out of sync with the seasons.

Developments such as HS2 and the OxCam Arc are threatening huge swathes of our countryside and habitats are being lost on an alarming scale. Our wild spaces are becoming more fragmented and wildlife is being squeezed out.

One million

The Government is heralding a green recovery, with the UK hosting the global climate conference COP26 in Glasgow in 2021. Brexit has brought new environmental laws promising to protect our natural world and pay those who do so.

species are at risk of extintction

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The e n is nowvironmen most the third t im conce portant rn voter for s

countries have

declared a climate emergency

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the link between people and nature, and the importance of the natural world for our health and wellbeing. The value of nature for people and climate is becoming clear.

© Penny Dixie; Paul Harris 2020VISION

© Phill Luckhurst/Distinctly Average; Paustius/Shutterstock.

The backdrop

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The story so far . . .

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ur 2016-2021 plan was a stepping stone on a long-term journey to our Wilder vision and we must continue on that path. We have grown a lot in the last five years and BBOWT is one of the biggest Wildlife Trusts in the movement.

We now have 86 nature reserves across 2,670 hectares of our three counties. We have 28,000 memberships – that’s more than 50,000 members – and an army of 1,700 volunteers, alongside 150 dedicated staff.

We’ve provided advice on land management to 625 landowners over the last five years and our wider countryside work has reached 76,000 hectares – that’s already 13% of our region.

We work with a huge number of schools and community groups every year. Almost 45,000 school children have been inspired by our education team in the last five years. Some 46,000 people took direct action for wildlife or had new access to nature in their lives, thanks to our community work.

We have also partnered with many local authorities, NGOs and local communities, and engaged with decision makers to maximise our impact.

But we know we have a lot more to do – we have to think bigger, bolder, wilder.

86

nature reserves

covering

2,670 ha

50,000 © Tom Marshall

members

1,700

amazing volunteers

625

landowners advised

150

hard working staff

91,000

people educated & on

76,000 ha

inspired to act for wildlife

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WILDER Our mission

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e want to see more nature everywhere – for everyone – in towns and rural areas. We want to put nature into recovery in our three counties by 2030.

Our mission is to bring about nature’s recovery through local action – in partnership with people from all sectors of society, working with councils, MPs, landowners, farmers and people from across local communities.

Our goals To achieve our Wilder vision we have three main goals:

1

Put nature into recovery

2

Empower people to act for nature

3

Secure our future

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© Tom Marshall; Wildlife World/Shutterstock; Jon Hawkins/Surrey Hills Photography; Becky Chesshyre; Paul Upward Photography; taviphoto/Shutterstock.

This is an ambitious plan and we know we can’t do it on our own. We must look beyond the boundaries of the land we own and manage and think more on a landscape scale.

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© James Osmond; Paul Upward Photography; Keiran Huston; Paul Tomlinson. Map credit Ordnance Survey © Crown Copyright and database right 2021. All rights reserved. License number 100050351. Contains Open Government Licence v3.0 data. Contains data © BBOWT, DICE, TVERC, BMERC.

WILDER Our goals

1

Our Nature Recovery Network Recovery zone

Put nature into recovery

Areas that buffer and restore connectivity between existing core sites, and represent the best places to restore and create new habitats.

T

he first part of our new vision encourages nature’s recovery through joining up bigger, wilder, connected landscapes where wildlife can thrive.

We’ll continue to restore and enrich our existing reserves and will buy land strategically to help nature’s recovery. Work in our Living Landscapes will also continue and we’ll develop more conservation projects right across our three counties. Working alongside and in partnerships with local farmers, businesses, councils, landowners and communities, we’ll extend wildlife rich habitats out from our nature reserves into the wider landscape.

To encourage the positive management of land for nature, we’ll offer pragmatic and sensible advice to land managers, based on our years of expertise and values of trust and integrity in all we do.

Urban areas will also be a focus, and we will work with communities and in partnerships to restore habitats for wildlife in our towns and cities, as well as villages.

Wider landscape zone Areas surrounding the core and recovery zones, made more ecologically permeable and less hostile to wildlife. Nature is included in decision making, regardless of where the land lies.

Core zone Areas of existing high value for wildlife and designated sites for nature conservation. These include BBOWT nature reserves (dark green), nationally and locally designated sites, and priority habitats.

We’ll also continue to demonstrate how restoring nature can deliver multiple environmental benefits, and help tackle the climate and nature emergencies.

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WILDER Our goals

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Empower people to act for nature

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ature has a hugely positive impact on people’s mental and physical wellbeing, yet many are out of touch with the natural world. We want to do everything we can to support and enable local communities to reconnect with and restore nature in their own neighbourhoods and beyond.

Through our innovative events, communications and community outreach, we will give more people access to nature, enabling them to learn new skills, so they can be part of nature’s recovery and feel the benefits in their lives.

We’ll work hard to reach new and diverse communities, encouraging more people to take action for nature in both urban and rural settings.

© Tom Marshall; vE ie and Tom Photography; Ric Mellis.

Using our scaled-up communications, we will inspire people about the wonders of nature and promote our work, spelling out how we are helping to tackle the climate and nature crisis.

We will also advocate for nature with decision makers, working to include the environment and nature at every stage of the planning and policy process.

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WILDER Our goals

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Secure our future

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he final key goal in our new vision is about making BBOWT secure and sustainable for a long time to come, so we can continue our vital work for wildlife in our three counties.

We will set a positive example by running our organisation in a sustainable way, prioritising the environmental sustainability of our facilities and the wellbeing of our people. We have introduced core values and behaviours across our organisation and we will live and work by these.

Most importantly, our supporters are part of this goal. Their generosity enables us to do our work: volunteering in our nature reserves, signing a petition or lobbying a local councillor, or donating to our projects. We couldn’t accomplish any of this without them – so this is their plan too.

© Andy Rouse/2020VISION; Stacey Doran; Ric Mellis.

We will work to grow and diversify our vital network of supporters, enabling us to continue our work and expand to meet our future goals and challenges.

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WILDER More Nature Everywhere

The next five years By 2026 our Wilder plan will mean that we will see nature in our region on the road to recovery, with wilder more connected landscapes and struggling species now starting to thrive.

We’ll have a major rewilding demonstration project and key species reintroductions on the horizon.

We’ll be working with more decision makers, local authorities, developers and land managers, in partnerships and with local communities and other NGOs - so we’re all working with nature, not against it . And thousands more people across our three counties will be inspired to take action to help bring back our precious wildlife.

Only then can we achieve our vision of more nature everywhere for everyone – for people, for nature and for climate.

A wilder Berks, Bucks and Oxfordshire, where we can all live and thrive.

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© James Adler.

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust The Lodge, 1 Armstrong Road, Littlemore, Oxford OX4 4XT 01865 7755476 info@bbowt.org.uk www.bbowt.org.uk Registered charity number: 204330

Company registered number: 00680007