Wt annual report 2013

Annual Review 2012-13

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire

Financial report 2012-13 The Trust’s finances are divided into restricted funds, where monies raised must be spent on specific purposes, and unrestricted funds, which can be applied to general charitable activities. Of the total income in 2013, a little over half (£2.75 million) was unrestricted, with £2.35 million being restricted – mostly relating to the Great Fen. The Trust achieved an unrestricted surplus of £102,817 year (2012 £11,611) with a restricted surplus of £290,543 (2012 a deficit of £32,570) resulting in total net assets of £18.1 million (£15.4 million attributable to restricted activities).

Within the restricted funds, the land holdings in The Great Fen and certain other reserves are included, together with substantial cash balances held by us against future liabilities for managing specific nature reserves over long periods.

Many of the income sources of the Trust are vulnerable, which makes the continuing support of our established members, donors and other supporters immensely valuable. Like many other charities and businesses, we have suffered adverse impacts from the economic downturn.

Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended Summary of Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2013 31st March 2013

2013 2012 FIXED ASSETS INCOME £ £ Freehold land & buildings 1,362,777 1,393,723 Subscriptions and Gift Aid 1,179,434 1,172,068 Land in Tenure 3,449,410 4,521,324 Donations and sponsorships 209,820 153,548 Heritage assets 10,023,906 8,559,738 Grants 1,851,238 1,625,689 Other tangible assets 1,083,879 1,162,304 Legacies 293,167 124,476 Intangible assets 71,940 69,520 Appeals 63,298 59,554 TOTAL 15,991,912 15,706,608 Landfill tax credits 356,941 243,062 CURRENT ASSETS Service agreements 577,457 445,727 Stocks 37,584 35,073 Investment income 44,031 36,330 Debtors 1,162,855 1,150,506 Other income 526,797 514,517 Loan to associated organisation 35,000 – TOTAL INCOME 5,102,183 4,374,971 Investments – 3,770

Cash at bank and in hand 2,683,039 2,934,388 EXPENDITURE TOTAL 3,918,478 4,123,737 Fundraising donor development 357,152 373,773 Creditors: amounts falling due Marketing membership services 431,924 452,841 within one year (810,963) (975,369) Nature reserve management 1,955,196 1,675,112

Wider countryside 734,869 654,377 NET CURRENT ASSETS 3,107,515 3,148,368 Partnership projects 541,339 599,188 Creditors: amounts falling due Education 640,794 588,047 after more than one year (932,636) (1,125,860) Governance costs 47,549 52,592 Provision for liabilities and TOTAL EXPENSES 4,708,823 4,395,930 charges (46,354) –

NET ASSETS 18,120,437 17,729,116 Profit/(loss) on investments (177) 669

Profit/(loss) on fixed assets (1,862) 150 FUNDS

Restricted 15,422,166 15,131,623 Net income (after expenses) 391,321 (20,140) Unrestricted 2,698,271 2,597,493 Funds at start of year 17,729,116 17,749,256 TOTAL 18,120,437 17,729,116 Funds at end of year 18,120,437 17,729,116

Annual

Review

2012-13

Due to the unpredictable nature of some of our income sources, the Trustees have agreed a policy of maintaining a financial reserve that would cover at least three months’ expenditure on running costs and of aiming for six months’ cover. At the year end, the unrestricted current assets provided 3.5 months cover. The management and staff of the Trust continue to control costs and save resources wherever possible, but our real need is to boost the unrestricted income of the Trust so we can plan our work to achieve a positive impact for local wildlife.

– Karen Silcock, Treasurer Governance

Income

Expenditure

Other income

£526,797

Investment income £44,031

Subscriptions and Gift Aid

£1,179,434

Service Agreements

£47,549

Education

£640,794

Fundraising

£357,152 Marketing and membership

£431,924

Partnership projects

£577,457 Donations and Sponsorship

£541,339

£209,820

Landfill Tax Credits

£356,941 Appeals £63,298

Wider countryside

Legacies

£293,167

Grants

£1,851,238

£734,869

Nature reserve management

£1,955,196

Trust information President Baroness Young of Old Scone

Honorary Secretary Ms Fiona Chesterton

Chief Executive Mr Brian Eversham

Vice Presidents Mr Michael Allen Prof David Bellamy Mrs Mary Bevan Mr Hugh Duberly Dr Norman Moore Mr Ioan Thomas

Chairman of Conservation, Education & Community Committee Prof David Gowing

Registered and principal office The Manor House Broad Street Great Cambourne Cambridge CB23 6DH

The Board of Trustees Chairman of Council Sir Charles Chadwyck-Healey, Bt. Vice Chairman Ms Margaret Goose Honorary Treasurer Ms Karen Silcock

Mr Martin Baker Dr Jenna Bishop Sir Graham Fry, appointed 13 October 2012 Mr Tony Juniper Mr Stewart Lane Dr Derek Langslow Dr Sheila Pankhurst Cllr Bill Parker, appointed 13 October 2012 Sir John Robinson, Bt.

Auditors Saffery Champness Unex House Bourges Boulevard Peterborough Cambridgeshire PE1 1NG

Principal bankers Barclays Bank plc Bene’t Street Business Centre P O Box 2 Cambridge CB2 3PZ Solicitors Hewitsons Shakespeare House 42 Newmarket Road Cambridge CB5 8EP Company number 2534145 Registered Charity number 1000412

100 years of caring for local nature…

and looking forward to the next century

Annual Review 2012-13

Foreword

The Trust’s mission is to:

I became chairman in 2009, a year of great change.

We received the largest environmental grant ever given by the Heritage Lottery Fund in England – £7.2million for the Great Fen. It was the year in which we selected our top four Living Landscapes areas.

- conserve local wildlife, by caring for land ourselves and with others;

It was also the year in which our chief executive Brian Eversham took over from Nicholas Hammond. Brian’s first challenge was to make the changes necessary to reposition the Trust for the post-2008 world with its huge financial uncertainties. We had two objectives – to make the Trust as efficient as we could and to raise its profile, and increase membership.

- the West Ca mbridgeshire Hundreds

- inspire others to take action for wildlife; and - inform people, by offering advice and sharing knowledge.

We focus our work on our top four Living Landscape schemes

- the Great Fen, Ca mbridgeshire - the Nene Valley, Northa mptonshire and Ca mbridgeshire - and the North Chilterns Chalk, Bedfordshire

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire

2012: the centenary of the Wildlife Trusts movement…

In May 1912, a Northamptonshire landowner, banker and renowned naturalist, Charles Rothschild, brought together a group of like-minded individuals to create the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, the lineal ancestor of the Wildlife Trusts movement. His great insight was to recognise that the future of wildlife depended on securing the most important habitats rather than defending individual species. His first nature reserve was Woodwalton Fen, now at the heart of this Trust’s Great Fen.

Nightingale at Brampton Wood Brian Eversham (right) with John Duffield from Lafarge Tarmac at Godmanchester Cow Lane

In 2013 we are better known across the three counties but there is still a long way to go. We now have a highly experienced marketing director, a new post for the Trust, and exciting plans for the future. We have also seen an increase in legacies that we receive from the generous people who have remembered the Trust in their wills.

Reserves continue to nurture species that might otherwise not be here at all.

We had avocets breeding on Grafham Water for the first time; peregrines, marsh harriers, red kites and hobbies are all breeding on our reserves; silver washed fritillaries re-colonised several woodland nature reserves after several decades of absence; there are now Chiltern gentian and heath eyebright at Totternhoe and a study of the movements of barbastelle bats in the West Cambridgeshire Woodlands suggests that they are more widespread than we thought.

But five years is but a moment in the life of our Trust. There were 50th anniversary celebrations – of the Beds and Hunts Trust in 2011 and the Northamptonshire Trust in 2013. We also marked the Centenary of the Trust movement in 2012. We have gone full circle – the first Wildlife Trust nature reserve- Woodwalton Fen – is now at the heart of one the largest wetland restoration projects in Europe.

As I leave as chairman I know that the Trust is in good hands, and with the wholehearted support of our members and volunteers we will continue to achieve the ambitious goals we set ourselves.

Charles Chadwyck-Healey, Chairman 2009-2013

Charles’s daughter, Miriam Rothschild, was Patron of this Trust until her death in 2005, and was a strong supporter of the Great Fen. Given the strength of the local connections, commemorative events were organised throughout the year, and national media visited Woodwalton Fen on several occasions.

More than 800 people attended events to celebrate the Wildlife Trust’s centenary in May 2012.

Child at a Trust event

Winning Great Fen visitor centre design

Nature reserves:

improving management, access and monitoring The Wildlife Trust manages 126 nature reserves covering 3,395 hectares (8,389 acres) The Trust’s estate is managed by three county-based teams with 26 staff in total, with crucial support from volunteers, including our volunteer wardens.

•W e received a Heritage Lottery Fund award of £1.89 million as a three-year extension to our existing grant for the Great Fen. A competition was launched, with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), to design a Great Fen Visitor Centre. This had the largest response for a RIBA competition in recent years, with more than 200 entries.

•T he opening of the sluices in the restored ditch system at Wicksteed Water Meadow (Northamptonshire) has allowed the site to be flooded for the first time in 100 years, and the flora of the site has improved already.

•A t Cooper’s Hill (Bedfordshire), controlled trial areas of heathland were burnt and cut to determine the most effective ways to promote heather regeneration.

Cover photo: Sunset at Irthingborough Lakes and Meadows

•P eregrine falcons, red kites, hobbies and marsh harriers bred on Wildlife Trust nature reserves.

•N ightingale reappeared at Old Sulehay (Northamptonshire).

•S carce chaser dragonfly was recorded at several nature reserves for the first time.

•B arbastelle and other scarce bat species were recorded at several new sites; a large roost of noctule bats was found in woodland at Cambourne (Cambridgeshire).

•W ildlife Trust Ecology Groups undertook much of the Trust’s monitoring work, carrying out planned surveys of species and groups including dormice, bats, breeding birds, wildflowers and insects Volunteers contributed over 5,500 hours as part of, approximately, 160 monitoring projects across 60 reserves. Volunteers have been using their carpentry skills to build more than 500 dormouse nest boxes.

A Bedfordshire Local Wildlife Site

Nature reserves:

acquiring land During the financial year, the Trust: • took on a three-year lease with an option to purchase at Godmanchester Cow Lane Gravel Pits in Cambridgeshire.

• secured Cottage Bottom Field, an extension to Blows Downs (Bedfordshire), on a 25-year lease, with a management agreement funded by the Luton & Dunstable guided busway.

Education and community engagement • Our Education and Community team engaged with 22,727 children and adults during the year (28,568 2012) across all of its activities. This reduction in numbers reflects a refocusing of our effort on our Living Landscape priorities, and greater emphasis on the quality of engagement.

• Wildlife Watch continues to perform very strongly, with among the largest networks of any Wildlife Trust – 24 Watch groups and 113 registered leaders.

• Volunteers are essential to all aspects of the Trust’s work, from nature reserve wardens to corporate work teams tackling management tasks on reserves.

•W ildlife Training Workshops are available free to all our active volunteers. Our training programme remains among the most comprehensive and highly regarded in the country. Approximately 41 workshops and 620 training places were offered in 2012/13.

Wider countryside:

a strengthened commitment to Local Wildlife Sites and targeted involvement in planning • This Trust lobbied the Department for Transport over the inadequacy of mitigation for the proposed high speed rail link, HS2 which cuts through Northamptonshire.

• In January 2013 the Trust produced a briefing document for local authorities, Why Nature Matters, outlining the major Living Landscape schemes in our region and highlighting our expertise and record in helping local authorities to meet their statutory obligations.

• There are approximately 1,660 Local Wildlife Sites (also known as County Wildlife Sites) which form a crucial network of wildlife habitats across our three counties. We survey sites and engage with owners to get sites into

good condition. At the end of last year 50% were judged to be in positive management.

•T he Trust’s Chief Executive was elected to the Council of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. Senior staff of this Trust also represented the national Wildlife Trust movement at ministerial meetings to discuss climate change, and at the launch of new planning guidance produced jointly with the Town & Country Planning Association.

Thank-you Without the support of its members and the energy of its volunteers, the Trust would achieve only a fraction of its aims. By March 2013 there were 35,032 members.

Funding also comes from diverse sources including Heritage Lottery Fund, Big Lottery Fund, Landfill Communities Fund, Natural England, Environment Agency, grant-making trusts, local authorities and our 64 corporate members and supporters.

The Trust also acknowledges the invaluable financial support from our Wildlife Guardians and legacies.

Photographs by John Abbott, Phil Mynott, George Cottam, Shiro Studios, Caroline Fitton and Laura Downton.