OUR IMPACT
Creating a wilder Hampshire and Isle of Wight 2023/24
3. Our year in numbers
4. Welcome
5. Strategy and Goals
6. Nature in Recovery - Hampshire
8. Nature in Recovery - Isle of Wight
10. Nature as a Solution
12. Nature in Recovery - Our local seas
14. People Taking Action
16. Financial Review
18. Looking Ahead
Our year in numbers
28,689 members and friends (2022/23: 27,796)
1,466 volunteers (2022/23: 1,500)
£5,237,962 spent on conservation (2022/23: £4,141,553)
4,896 hectares in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight managed by the Trust (2022/23: 4,814)
£714,045 spent on education, engagement and advocacy activities (2022/23: £793,715)
135 contracted employees (2022/23: 126)
£11,734,507 total income (2022/23: £9,917,465)
£1,488,661 received from gifts in Wills allowing us to invest in future conservation priorities (2022/23: £1,915,822)
22,533 hours given by our volunteers, equivalent to 3,219 days (2022/23: 24,763 hours | 3,538 days)
2 sites acquired to support wildlife and nature recovery – Kittenocks Meadows and Swanpond Copse extension (2022/23: 0 sites)
96% of Trust SSSIs (Site of Special Scientific Interest) in favourable or recovering condition (2022/23: 94%)
522 livestock animals enabling conservation grazing on the land we manage - 246 cattle, 270 sheep and 6 native ponies (2022/23: 237 cattle, 275 sheep and 4 native ponies)
Our Impact 2023/24 | 3
Welcome
The past year marked another pivotal period for the Trust’s Wilder 2030 strategy, bringing us closer to achieving our objectives and creating a wilder future.
We continued to make substantial progress during 2023/24. We expanded crucial habitats and acquired new land for wildlife, contributing to the 300 hectares secured since the strategy’s launch. Our membership again saw further growth, to an impressive 28,689 members and friends, reflecting the collective will to build a wilder, more resilient Hampshire and Isle of Wight. Despite significant pressures on our
natural world, including economic challenges, extreme weather events and a constantly changing political and policy landscape, we remain steadfast in our commitment to leading nature’s recovery. Over the past 12 months, we made major strides towards putting nature into recovery, and we engaged more people to take action through our campaigning, Team Wilder, Wilder Communities and Wilder Schools education programmes.
This Impact Report provides a summary of the key achievements, from conservation success stories on our nature reserves to the positive outcomes
of our rewilding sites, as well as our work to restore marine habitats and advocate for stronger environmental protections.
While much has been accomplished, we remain focused on the difficult work ahead. With your continued support, we will carry on driving meaningful change, ensuring that wildlife thrives, ecosystems are restored, and everyone can experience a wilder future.
Your support, whether through volunteering, donating or spreading awareness, is invaluable. Thank you.
Debbie Tann MBE Chief Executive
David Jordan OBE Chairman
Strategy and Goals
For almost 64 years, the Trust has safeguarded the wildlife and wild places of Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, and our local seas. With only five years remaining to achieve the crucial objectives laid out in our Wilder 2030 strategy, there is no time to waste in halting the decline in species diversity and abundance, and protecting 30% of our land and sea for nature’s recovery.
A wilder future is still within our reach, but we must act now.
Our Vision is for a Wilder Hampshire and Isle of Wight by 2030 – where nature is recovering, wildlife is returning, damaged ecosystems are being restored, and everyone benefits from a healthier, more resilient, natural environment.
Our Mission is to get more people on nature’s side and create more space for wildlife to thrive.
Goal 1
Nature in Recovery - 30% of land and sea is protected and managed positively for wildlife by 2030. Trends for key indicator species are improving by 2030.
Goal 2
People Taking Action - 1 in 4 people are inspired and empowered to act in support of nature’s recovery by 2030. Support for the Trust grows year on year.
Goal 3
Nature as a Solution - Restoring nature helps tackle issues like climate change, pollution and flooding. Investment in nature-based solutions creates increased opportunities for nature’s recovery on land and at sea.
Nature in Recovery – Hampshire
With space for wildlife being constantly squeezed, our Wildlife Trust nature reserves play a crucial role in providing safe havens for precious species amid an increasingly hostile external environment. In Hampshire, our conservation efforts during the past year have tackled these challenges head on, leading to heartening examples of species recovery and nature bouncing back when given a chance. Across the county, this work has included habitat enhancements and chalk stream restoration work, with our teams dedicated to enhancing biodiversity and fostering resilient ecosystems.
Supporting rare species
Willow emerald damselfly at Swanwick Lakes: In summer 2023, the willow emerald damselfly was confirmed as a breeding species at Swanwick Lakes. First recorded in England in 2009, this damselfly thrives in still water with overhanging trees, highlighting Swanwick Lakes’ ecological importance as a nature oasis in an urban area.
Increasing tree pipit population: Over the past four years, studies have shown an increase in tree pipits, an endangered species, on New Forest reserves. In 2023, four breeding pairs were found at Copythorne Common and another at Roydon Woods, reflecting our success in creating thriving habitats.
Rare species monitoring: Working with the Species Recovery Trust, the presence of windowwinged sedge caddis was confirmed at Ancells Farm and Foxlease Meadows. These sites are among the few in the UK for this species, thriving in microhabitats created by grazing cattle.
Avian successes and surveys
Blashford and Testwood Lakes enjoyed many successes during the year. At Blashford, 15 pairs of common terns produced 35 chicks, and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Winter Gull Roost count recorded 7,000 black-headed, 1,700 lesser black-backed, 300 herring, 30 common, and 10 yellow-legged gulls. Despite spring floods, Testwood Lakes saw record breeding
numbers with 16 pairs of lapwing fledging 14 young, and a pair of oystercatcher raised three young. Sand martin burrows resulted in 75 occupied nests. Common terns thrived, with four pairs raising 14 young. Testwood also welcomed new breeding pairs of shoveler duck and a female red-backed shrike. Across the New Forest, nightjar surveys were conducted on 154 transects between May and July 2023. A total of 1,379 observations were recorded, and detailed GIS analysis identified 353 territorial males, 7.7% of the UK population.
Habitat enhancements at Farlington Marshes
In collaboration with the RSPB’s LIFE on the Edge project, we created four islands at Farlington Marshes. The works (pictured to the left) form an early part of our shared ambition to create and restore seabird nesting sites across the Solent under the Solent Seascape Project. These islands will serve as crucial high tide roosts and nesting sites for seabirds, like common terns, blackheaded gulls, and Mediterranean gulls.
New crayfish conservation centre
A new conservation centre at Wildheart Animal Sanctuary opened in January as part of the Trust’s Southern Chalk Streams project with Bristol Zoological Society. This centre will help secure the endangered white-clawed crayfish’s future through captive-rearing of wild-caught berried females and a captive-breeding programme.
Nature in Recovery – Isle of Wight
Wilder Wight remains a cornerstone of our mission to create a wilder future across our two counties. By ensuring that 30% of land and sea is actively managed for nature’s recovery by 2030, we will give nature the chance it needs to bounce back. Over the past year, our work on the Island has highlighted the resilience of nature when it is given the opportunity to recover. On the Island, the Trust introduced new grazing animals and expanded our estate, enhanced habitat diversity and rediscovered rare species, demonstrating the success of our conservation strategies.
Grazing at Wilder Little Duxmore
In 2023, we introduced grazing at our Wilder Little Duxmore rewilding site, with Exmoor ponies, Belted Galloway cattle, and pigs. This grazing creates structural diversity in vegetation and fosters various habitat niches. We continued to partner with Nunwell Home Farm to manage grazing across our rewilding sites and other nature reserves.
Wilder Wight estate
The Trust expanded its estate in the east of the Island with two land purchases – Kittenocks Meadows and an extension to Swanpond Copse. Situated close to Wilder Little Duxmore, Kittenocks is a stunning lowland neutral meadow, a classic example of a traditional Trust nature reserve. Purchasing 39 acres adjacent to Swanpond Copse allowed the Trust to extend that reserve and move closer to achieving our long-term aspirations of creating joined-up sites for landscape-scale nature recovery.
Beaver recovery
Our aspiration for the release of wild beavers continues - to help restore our rivers and create new wetlands. Five years since its conception, we are still waiting for confirmation from Defra and the government on Wild Release Licencing requirements. Our Beaver Recovery Project Officer is working on the licence application, engagement programme, and data gathering to support a future licence application.
Rare moth flutters back from brink
We were delighted to discover two rare Reddish buff moths during the Trust’s annual moth survey on the Isle of Wight. This significant find reassured us about the status of this endangered species, which is only found on this site in the UK. This is the first time the moth has been recorded in four years, with the last adult found in 2019. Survey efforts were impacted by Covid lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, with only one single larva found.
Nature as a Solution
The role of nature in helping to tackle societal problems is becoming increasingly understood. Nature can be a powerful ally in combating climate change, tackling pollution, and managing extreme weather events like flooding. Restoring nature alongside development helps to mitigate the impact of housing and infrastructure, and rewilding areas of intensive farmland can aid food production by improving soil health and supporting pollinators. Our nature-based solutions work has demonstrated real benefits like this in the past year.
Rewilding sites
The Trust’s rewilding sites on the Isle of Wight, Wilder Little Duxmore and Wilder Nunwell, have evolved over the past 12 months, showing how quickly wildlife can recover when given space and time. Previously, Wilder Little Duxmore was an arable farm with high fertiliser inputs. Since taking on the site, we stopped all inputs, allowing the land to recover. Soil survey results at Wilder Little Duxmore showed that soil nitrogen levels had decreased by 47%, highlighting the critical relationship between land use and soil health.
Launch of Rewilding Network
As part of our Wilder 2030 strategy, we want to see rewilding making a meaningful contribution to local nature recovery, with
at least 5% of our landscapes rewilded as part of our 30% nature recovery goal. The creation of our local Rewilding Network demonstrated a vital step in this journey and we estimate that through this network, which brings together landowners and rewilding specialists, the Trust is having a positive influence on around 1,466 hectares of privately-owned land.
Nitrate Mitigation Programme
The Trust has shown that effective and affordable naturebased solutions can be developed by working with developers, local government, and regulators in the Solent region. Through the Nitrate Mitigation Programme, the Trust mitigates the environmental effects of new developments by rewilding land previously used for intensive agriculture, reducing nutrient runoff to the Solent and restoring wildlife habitats.
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) became mandatory for major developments in England in February 2024. For decades, development caused significant nature loss, but this new legal requirement means developers must deliver measurably more for nature than is lost through development. The Trust’s ambition is for BNG to become a vital tool in delivering our nature recovery goals.
Nature in Recovery – Our local seas
Through the Solent Seagrass Restoration and Solent Seascape projects, we are striving to revitalise our local seas. These initiatives are crucial for enhancing marine biodiversity, promoting sustainable fisheries, and improving ecosystem services like cleaner water and carbon sequestration. Our seas are under huge pressure from major losses in biodiversity, habitat destruction and pollution – so the Trust’s marine work is urgent and of ever-increasing importance.
Solent Seagrass Restoration
The Solent Seagrass Restoration Project, in partnership with Boskalis Westminster and the University of Portsmouth, has significantly advanced our seagrass restoration efforts. In summer 2023, we collected double the amount of Zostera marina seagrass seed compared with the previous year, recovering approximately
40,000
Zostera marina seagrass seed
These were stored at the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Marine Sciences, ready for planting in 2024. This project, generously supported by the FatFace Foundation, trained 263 Seagrass Champions and celebrated three years of progress on World Seagrass Day.
Solent Seascape Project
The Solent Seascape Project, funded by East Head Impact and Endangered Landscapes and Seascapes Programme, completed its first year, focusing on seascape-scale restoration for habitats like seagrass, saltmarsh, oysters, and nesting birds. The Trust leads the project-wide community engagement and behaviour change work stream for the project. In 2023, 76 Marine Champions and 42 people from the Volunteer Advisory Group were involved in promoting restoration efforts.
Seagrass surveys
Intertidal seagrass surveys within the Solent and Isle of Wight were conducted in summer 2023, assessing the current condition of seagrass habitats. Coverage was similar to previous years, with notable expansions and contractions. New areas were mapped and most seagrass was found within Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and Ramsar sites (wetlands of international importance), totalling 228.48 hectares. Density varied from dense beds to sparse, patchy areas.
Marine community engagement
The Trust attended four events, delivered two school workshops, 12 marine talks, and ran a leadership and communication workshop for Marine Champions, creating four educational videos.
People Taking Action
To achieve our Wilder 2030 targets for a wilder future, it is crucial that the Trust inspires and enables 1 in 4 people to act for nature’s recovery. From advocating for policy changes and raising awareness of critical issues, to campaigning for stronger wildlife protections and supporting grassroots initiatives to create greener local spaces, the Trust, our members and supporters play a crucial role in holding decision makers to account and fostering a collective commitment to nature conservation.
Campaigning, policy and advocacy
Debbie Tann receives MBE: Debbie Tann, the Trust’s Chief Executive, was awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours List. This prestigious recognition celebrated Debbie’s outstanding 30-year career in nature conservation, including 25 years at the Trust and 15 as Chief Executive. A key aspect of Debbie’s work is her role as a respected voice in campaigning for nature’s recovery. In September 2023, Debbie took to the stage at the Restore Nature Now rally to deliver an impassioned speech alongside 40 leading conservation and environmental charities, calling for urgent action to tackle the nature and climate crises.
Save Our Chalk Streams: Launched in autumn 2023, the Trust’s Save Our Chalk Streams campaign aims to protect these globally precious habitats. Among the world’s rarest habitats, chalk streams face severe threats, and only 11 out of 220 in the UK are legally protected. More than 1,000 people wrote to their MPs to join our push for enhanced legal safeguards for all chalk streams.
Shaping Local Nature Recovery Strategies: As mandated by the Environment Act, areas across England are formulating Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) to reverse biodiversity decline and meet government objectives. The Trust is playing a major role in shaping these strategies for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight by sitting on the steering group for both and contributing to consultation sessions.
Individuals and communities
Watercress and Winterbournes: The Watercress and Winterbournes Landscape Partnership Scheme continued its work to protect, enhance, and celebrate the seven chalk stream headwaters of the Rivers Test and Itchen, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The scheme now has 257 volunteers engaged in various activities, including monthly riverfly samples at 23 sites and expanded testing for phosphate, nitrate, and ammonia. SmartRivers invertebrate sampling continued at 10 sites, with volunteers participating in 20 identification sessions. Volunteers documented trout and salmon redds, surveyed for water voles, removed invasive plants, and assisted with chalk stream restoration projects in Whitchurch and Abbotts Ann.
Wilder Conference & Awards
In September 2023, we held our biannual Wilder Conference and Awards to celebrate progress and debate critical issues. The conference focused on how to achieve more space for nature and the challenge of creating wilder rivers and seas. Awards were presented across nine categories, recognising individuals, groups, and organisations leading the way towards a wilder future.
Wilder communities
Focused on creating a healthier environment where wildlife and people thrive, our area-based engagement officers continued their work to empower communities to transform streets into green spaces with increased wildlife habitats. We also launched our Wilder Neighbourhoods programme and have seen an impressive increase in the number of local nature champions coming forward.
Last autumn at Wilder Little Duxmore, the Wilder Wight team hosted a group of young people from The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service Prince’s Trust. Supported by Trust staff as part of the Nextdoor Nature Project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, they created several new homes for wildlife, including a wildlife pond, bug hotel, and stumpery.
In Southampton, our community officer collaborated with local business owners and volunteers to revitalise neglected flower beds in Victoria Road, Woolston. These spaces were transformed into vibrant, wildlife-friendly areas, enhancing both aesthetic appeal and habitat value.
Financial Review
Financial review
The Trust continued to grow in 2023/24, with total income reaching £11.7m which represented a year-onyear increase of 14%. Expenditure rose to £7.25m, with 89% spent on delivering charitable activities.
Membership income grew by 5.2%, we received £1.49m in legacies and £605k in donations. We are incredibly grateful for the loyal and generous support of our members, partners, donors and supporters. We also continued to grow the nature-based solutions programme with income of £4.2m in nitrate credit sales during the year.
The surplus for the year was a net £4.9m – of which £1.79m has been set aside into designated funds to ensure we can meet long-term obligations for land acquired to deliver nitrate mitigation, £1.9m was needed to repay loans and the remainder is to shore up the Trust’s general fund, ensuring we have healthy free reserves to protect the Trust from future financial shocks and to further build our resilience.
Total funds grew to £24.4m with £8m in designated funds and £10m in the general fund. At year end, the Trust held free reserves of £5.1m covering 10.8 months of unrestricted expenditure. While the Trust is in a very healthy financial position thanks to our wonderful supporters and our focused strategy and business plan, we are not complacent, and we remain focused on ensuring we are financially resilient to the uncertain economic and political environment.
Financial strategy
With a keen focus on organisational sustainability and financial resilience, we restructured and invested in our teams in 2022 to enable more focus on driving forward our two parallel income-generating strategies: fundraising and nature-based solutions. In just two years, we have grown our income substantially as a result, and we will continue to invest in both income streams to ensure the Trust builds medium to long-term growth in fundraised and commercial income. In addition to building our income streams, we keep a close eye on expenditure against a backdrop of rapidly rising costs through strict budgetary controls and a value-for-money ethos.
Income
2023/24
Donations: £605,098 (5%)
Legacies: £1,488,661 (13%)
Membership: £1,427,896 (12%)
Activities for generating funds: £307,007 (3%)
Conservation & education: £3,603,416 (30%)
Nature Based Solutions: £4,202,526 (36%)
Investments: £97,747 (0.8%)
Other income: £2,155 (0.2%)
Expenditure 2023/24
Conservation, education & engagement activities: £5,539,584 (76%)
Nature Based Solutions £412,424 (6%)
Membership services: £464,621 (6%)
Cost of generating voluntary income: £832,449 (12%)
Looking Ahead
2024/25 objectives
The Trust’s Wilder 2030 strategy drives our work, ensuring that we play a crucial local role in helping to tackle the climate and nature crises through delivering our three interlinked strategic goals: Nature in Recovery, People Taking Action, and Nature as a Solution.
People Taking Action
• Continue to develop the Wilder Communities, Wilder Neighbourhoods, Champions and Leaders programmes.
• Develop and launch a new Citizen Science programme.
• Develop and pilot a coordinated work experience programme across the Trust, creating opportunities for young people to take action for nature and a pathway into the sector.
• Grow the Wilder Schools programme by testing existing packages, developing a secondary offering and hosting the annual Wilder Schools Conference.
• Deliver the next phase of our Interpretation & Visitor Engagement Strategy, deepening a sense of connection with nature and encouraging positive behaviour change on our estate.
• Launch community engagement plans in line with new Area Visions and advocacy priorities.
• Grow fundraising income and create impactful opportunities for people to support the Trust as a member, supporter, partner or donor.
• Update and implement a refreshed marketing and communications strategy, growing our audiences and supporting the delivery of the Trust’s key objectives.
• Hold biannual Wilder Conference and Awards to celebrate the achievements of people taking action for nature’s recovery.
Nature in Recovery & Nature as a Solution
• Manage, expand and connect our estate to help nature recover, aiming to acquire/take on management of at least six more new sites for wildlife.
• Defend nature by seeking to remove or mitigate external pressures, for example, from development or pollution, on our nature reserves and high priority protected sites.
• Finish developing geographically focused nature recovery Area Visions and goals for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, incorporating the Trust’s fundraising and advocacy priorities.
• Continue to develop and strengthen strategic partnerships to deliver more for nature including with the MOD, the Environment Agency, Natural England and Local Authorities.
• Continue to deliver ambitious nature recovery projects, such as the Watercress & Winterbournes and Solent Seascape partnership projects.
• Grow the Rewilding Network for Hampshire and Isle of Wight to encourage and support landowners wishing to rewild, restore and regenerate their land.
• Submit a beaver wild release licence application for the Isle of Wight and work towards the restoration of beavers and other missing species to improve ecosystem function.
• Continue to monitor how nature is recovering on our rewilding sites, Wilder Nunwell and Wilder Little Duxmore, communicating the outcomes and sharing best practice.
• Implement the Trust’s new climate change adaptation and resilience plan across our Estate.
• Play an active role in ensuring that Local Nature Recovery Strategies reflect the Trust’s priorities and that the Trust estate is embedded as part of the plans.
• Advocate and demonstrate Nature-Based Solutions as a tool for nature’s recovery and for reducing pressure on the wider environment.
• Continue to develop highintegrity Nature-Based Solutions schemes and position the Trust as a key deliverer of projects that restore wildlife, reduce pollution and sequester carbon.
Thank you to our supporters
We are incredibly grateful to our members, staff, volunteers, donors, local groups, partners and funders for their commitment to supporting nature’s recovery. Your continued generosity, support and dedication is crucial in helping to create a wilder Hampshire and Isle of Wight for the benefit of wildlife, nature and people. Thank you.