The first Norfolk Wildlife Trust Christmas card was produced in 1930, making us one of the very first organisations to create a festive charity card.

This first card was produced with the very well-regarded ornithological artist John (Jack) Cyril Harrison. It featured a bearded tit, and it was recorded that the sale of these cards raised £60 3s. 4d (approximately £60 in today's currency).

This first success began a tradition which lasted more than 50 years, until JC Harrison died in 1985. He was one of the first artists to specialise in depicting birds in flight and he made a special study of the characteristic flight of different species.

In 1932, his goldfinch card caught the eye of a prominent admirer. A letter in the NWT archive reads: 'The King is pleased to accept the Christmas Card of the 'Goldfinch', reproduced from Mr J.C. Harrison, which His Majesty much admires, and I am commanded to convey to you his sincere thanks. His Majesty is gratified to learn that the sale of the card has resulted in the bank overdraft of the Norfolk Naturalists Trust being extinguished.'

In our centenary year, we are paying tribute to Jack Harrison's 50-year contribution of charming, accurate paintings with a centenary card park. These cards highlight his work over the decades, which has brought the people of Norfolk closer to our beautiful county's nature and wildlife.

Our other special edition pack features the work of Colin Burns, who has adeptly carried Jack's mantle for over 50 years. His long association with NWT goes back to the 1970s, when his painting of a ruined mill on Norfolk marshes was chosen for our Christmas card. We are delighted to be celebrating 50 years of Colin's magnificent support with a wonderful collection of images from his work over the decades. The card pack also features a new painting of the artist in the Broads landscape where he has lived all his life. We are incredibly grateful for Colin's generous donation of a different painting every year since he began working with the Trust.

Colin, who was born in St Olaves in 1944, is an entirely self-taught artist. Painting has always been his absorbing interest and passion, while he is also an obsessive sketcher who is always adding spontaneous drawings to his sketchbook. When Colin was 12, his family moved to an isolated farmhouse on the edge of West Caister marshes, which introduced him to big skies and wide-open landscapes. This, and the abundance of local wildlife, laid the foundations for his life as an artist. He sold his first painting at the age of 15 and he was soon attracting attention from London galleries. A show in 1975 was the first of many, and his work is still included in many important collections across Europe and America.

Our reserves and Norfolk's landscapes, nature and wildlife are an inspiration to many artists, lots of whom have very generously donated their work for us to use for Christmas cards.

Renowned UK wildlife artist Robert Gillmor, who spent the last 25 years of his life in Cley, supported our Christmas cards for a number of years, with his beautiful and iconic linocut prints that explored and celebrated the wildlife of NWT Cley Marshes and the north Norfolk coast.

Long relationships are a theme with many of the artists who support the NWT Christmas cards year after year. The following artists, who all feature in the 2026 collection, have had long-standing associations with the Trust, and they have kindly donated their wonderful work to support us:

Niki Bowers

Niki studied at Great Yarmouth College of Art, before completing a BA (Hons) degree at Canterbury College of Art. As a graphic designer, she worked for design consultancies across the UK before returning to Norfolk to pursue a freelance career. She later turned to printmaking, and her limited-edition linocut prints reflect the landscape and wildlife of rural Norfolk, often featuring distinctive trees, hedgerows, wide skies and swirling flocks of wild birds.

Sarah Bays

Sarah is a Norfolk-based artist and printmaker, who is inspired by the Norfolk countryside, birds, farm animals and the coast. Her morning dog walks bring her inspiration, as she watches the pattern of light through the trees and the shadows cast by the morning sun. Her 2026 card, 'Fresh Snow', was created with a technique called hand-coloured dry point etching.

Max Angus

Max is a council member of the Society of Wildlife Artists, and a printmaker specialising in limited-edition linocuts, wood engravings and paintings. His artwork captures the fluid movement of Norfolk wildlife and the shifting weather of the shoreline. Every piece begins with a sketch on a scrap of paper or in a sketchbook, translating fleeting moments in nature into timeless, hand-pressed compositions.

Max's 2026 card, 'Coal Tits in Conifers', was inspired by a trip to Holkham. He said: 'The coal tits in the image were spotted along a coastal Norfolk footpath. They were so very high in the conifers chattering away that you had to almost turn upside down to see them. A handy nearby bank was the perfect place to sit. The coal tits, and some blue tits that were unaware anyone was there, came nearer. Now they were close enough to draw. The conifer's foliage was laying around and some 'bits' were taken back to the studio to help make the composition.'

Steve Cale

Steve is a Norfolk-based artist who draws and mainly works in watercolours. He is very inspired by wildlife and landscapes, particularly birds, which he has sketched since he was young.

Sue Welfare

Sue is a self-taught artist and printmaker based in West Norfolk. Her work is deeply inspired by the diverse Norfolk landscape and its wildlife, encompassing everything from the wide skies of the fens to the coastlines of North Norfolk, which she captures with techniques ranging from linocuts and papercuts to mixed media.

The wildlife and wild places of Norfolk have provided a continuing subject for these artists and their work and, in turn, a perfect representation for the Trust to embrace as part of our annual Christmas card collection.

Once again, we are enormously grateful for the artists' kind generosity in supporting our work through their artistic endeavours, and the financial support created through the sale of their cards. This year's selection of cards can be found on our Norfolk Wildlife Trust Christmas cards page.