Impact report

Fen orchid

After decades of conservation work, including by Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the rare fen orchid is officially no longer considered threatened. 

We counted over 2,000 plants at Upton Broad and Marshes. 

Fen orchids have small yellow flowers and distinctive green leaves that wrap around the base of a single stem. Read more about fen orchid.

Osprey

An osprey pair hatched two chicks at Ranworth Broad and Marshes, making the nature reserve the first known site in the region to make a home for breeding osprey in hundreds of years. 

It's wonderful that all our hard work in creating suitable habitat for osprey and other wildlife at Ranworth has paid off. Take a look at some of our webcam footage of the chicks, here.

Pond restoration

Aquatic wildlife now has 50 improved ponds in which to thrive, thanks to our pond restoration work last year. 

Great crested newts are already making a home in a quarter of the ponds we restored three years ago according to our surveys - and we'd hope to see the numbers grow. 

Land purchases and partnerships

Thanks to exciting land purchases and partnerships, we increased the land we own or manage for nature by 6.5%, bringing the total to more than 5,446 hectares. That means more space for wildlife to thrive - and more places for people to experience Norfolk’s wildlife and wild spaces. Read about how an innovative partnership will benefit wildlife and people at Broadland Country Park.

New and improved habitats

From woodlands to ponds, we supported habitat improvement across 944 hectares of land, through our CWS team, by conducting 51 surveys and 75 advice visits. 

We also created 20 hectares of new meadows in the first year of our three-year Biodiversity Net Gain project with Langley Abbey Environment Project.

The new Gilmor Discovery Hide

We helped people get closer to nature on our reserves, such as our new Gilmor Discovery Hide at Cley Marshes. 

Have you visited it yet? It offers views across pools and scrapes that we specially manage to attract breeding and migratory birds. Find out more about the hide.

All of you!

We welcomed a record 41,119 members (a growth of 5%), nearly 12,000 wider supporters and were supported by 1,781 wonderful volunteers. 

It’s brilliant to see so many people across Norfolk standing up for our wildlife, wild places and landscapes – we can’t do it without you! Why not help us become even stronger by gifting a membership.  

Inspiring the next generation

Over 1,000 young people between the ages of 11-25 came along to one of our 67 Wild Youth activities. Plus, we launched Norfolk’s first youth-led nature reserve. 

Our aim is to give young people the chance to shape a place for nature in their city, helping to build confidence, skills and a stronger connection to the natural world. 

Campaigning for nature

Thousands of people in Norfolk, as well as across the Wildlife Trust movement, helped fight for changes to the wildlife-damaging Planning and Infrastructure Bill as it moved through parliament. 

Although we didn’t get all the changes needed, the government did make some amendments, thanks to our collective action.  

Large marsh grasshopper

A reintroduction project resulted in self-sustaining populations of large marsh grasshopper on three sites across Norfolk – including one of our nature reserves! We teamed up with Natural England and the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire on a project led by Citizen Zoo, to collect, breed and reintroduce large marsh grasshoppers to sites. 

A blue corridor in Norwich

The residents of Mile Cross stepped up for nature by installing 10 new wildlife ponds across a defined area of their historic estate to create a thriving ‘blue corridor’. These ponds add to the existing chain of wildlife ponds stretching from the River Wensum and Sweet Briar Marshes, across the Valpy Avenue allotments and into the heart of Mile Cross. 

We expanded our work with schools and young people – rolling out our successful Wilder Schools programme to three more Norfolk Primary Schools, plus we provided nature inspiration to 5,454 school children in classrooms, schools grounds and nature reserves.

Ensuring everyone feels welcome

We launched a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) strategy and action plan. Led by our dedicated EDI Officer, this work will help us strengthen and embed inclusivity across the Trust and remove barriers to people accessing and taking action for nature. 

Norwich Pride

We took part in Norwich Pride for the first time, celebrating and supporting LGBTQIA+ staff, volunteers, supporters and visitors. Pride-inspired events included a free guided walk and picnic at NWT Sweet Briar Marshes, alongside a Leaders in Nature Conservation and panel discussion chaired by our Ambassador Nick Acheson.

Free events at Sweet Briar

Over 1,000 people attended one of our 139 free events at Sweet Briar Marshes, which covered a range of interests from plant ID to folklore, bringing a diversity of people closer to nature. Plus we hosted a range of different groups including The Big C and Hamlet Charity 

Giving Norfolk's nature a fighting chance

We launched our Centenary Appeal, with the ambitious target of raising £100,000 in our centenary year to help give Norfolk’s nature a fighting chance. We also established our Centenary Partners scheme. Nine generous companies agreed to donate £5,000 to support our ever-growing operational costs in this special year.

Celebrating our centenary in film and print!

Our centenary film celebrated everything we have achieved together with our supporters and members. We also launched our centenary book, This Wild Dream – Celebrating 100 years of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, written by our Ambassador Nick Acheson and published by Propolis Books of The Book Hive. Its sales are helping to raise vital funds for our work. It would make a fabulous gift!

A free weekend of nature

On 6 March, we celebrated our ‘Big Birthday’ with well wishes from Sir David Attenborough and opened our doors to the public for a free weekend in nature. This special date marked 100 years since Dr Sydney Long, along with 11 other naturalists, purchased our first nature reserve at Cley Marshes ‘as a bird-breeding sanctuary for all time’. The celebrations continued throughout the year with a programme of centenary events and activities, including talks, walks and workshops.