Annual Report - Ulster Wildlife Trust

Recommendations

Info

objectives, activities and performance 2006/2007 Managing and re-building quality habitats - We do this through managing nature reserves for wildlife. These serve as examples of best practice for wildlife friendly land management and are havens for rare and common wildlife. • A Nature Reserves Strategy document was developed this year which will direct and focus all the nature reserves activity over the next five years. The Trust currently manages 20 nature reserves totalling 704 hectares of land. • The Nature Reserves staff continued to monitor important species on many of our nature reserves, this included - kittiwake at the Isle of Muck, wood cranesbill at Feystown and marsh fritillary at Inishargy. Two notable species found on our nature reserves this year were Irish lady’s tresses orchid at Ecos and Irish whitebeam at Milford Cutting. • This year saw Lagan Meadows in Belfast designated as a ‘Local Nature Reserve’ and Blessingbourne near Filemiletown as an ‘Area of Special Scientific Interest’ and also saw the launch to the public of Slievenacloy nature reserve in the Belfast Hills. Marsh Fritillary Slievenacloy Nature Reserve Making wildlife conservation relevant to people’s everyday lives - We do this through our wildlife education programmes and projects, through our events and through our publications such as our membership newsletter the Irish Hare. • Our wildlife education programmes continued at Bog Meadows in Belfast, Delamont Country Park in Killyleagh and Greenmount Campus of CAFRE in Antrim, and we embarked on a new partnership with Ballymena Borough Council delivering environmental education at the Ecos Millennium Centre. Other successful education partnerships included our tree planting work with the Woodland Trust and flight themed programmes supported by Bombardier. • We held over 30 events during the year including - Dawn Chorus, Bat and Squirrel themed walks and activities. In August we held our first ever Celebrate Wildlife Festival at Bog Meadows in Belfast with over 400 people in attendance. • Our Membership continues to grow with our numbers now approaching 6500. This year we carried out some research with our members and in response developed a ‘new look’ Irish Hare. Environmental Education at Ecos Wildlife Festival at Bog Meadows Influencing decision makers, in all parts of our society, to take positive action for local wildlife - We lobby and work with government, at both the local and national levels and we also work with local industry to influence and encourage positive action and support for wildlife. • The Trust continued to lobby government locally and nationally for a UK Marine Bill to ensure adequate protection for our seas and their wildlife. • We responded to over 20 consultations in the year including the consultation on PPS14. Our staff sat on over 30 committees, stakeholder groups and pressure groups including Northern Ireland Biodiversity Group, Badger Stakeholder Group, Environmental Protection Working Group, Sustainable Development Stakeholder Group, and Rural Development Group. • We now have a network of five Biodiversity Officers based within local councils. These officers will work with council staff to ensure biodiversity is protected and enhanced in their respective areas. At the end of the financial year we embarked on a Biodiversity Action Project with Translink. Our Translink Biodiversity Officer will be working to ensure that biodiversity is enhanced on all of Translink’s landholdings. Marine Bill © C. Speedie Badger © Sussex Wildlife Trust
Helping like-minded organisations and individuals to work towards the improvement and protection of our local environment. We support and help others to take action for wildlife, this includes - working with community groups to create wildlife areas, skilling volunteers through training and work experience and funding others to take positive action for wildlife. • The Wildlife Guardian network project continued to work with over 30 rural community groups across NI, supporting them to manage areas of land for wildlife. This year saw the start of the Breathing Places project which also works with groups, schools and others to help them create areas for wildlife. • Our volunteering potential continued to grow with the recruitment of a dedicated Volunteering Officer, and we are striving to become an example of best practice for volunteering. We are continuing to offer the NVQ in Environmental Conservation and Open College Network qualification in Conservation & Countryside Management to all our volunteers. Wildlife Guardian Network Group Volunteer working on Nature Reserves • The Trust continues to administer the Landfill Communities Fund for several local councils and private operators. An example of a project funded in the year is the Lough Neagh Tree Sparrow Project, which aims to maintain and expand the range of tree sparrows within the Lough Neagh Wetlands. Ensuring we have the resources and systems to ensure that we can carry out our mission efficiently and effectively. We have a dedicated and skilled Board of Trustees and Management Team and who direct the work of the Trust, ensuring financial stability, that all statutory obligations are met and that we strive for best practice in all areas of work. • A risk management framework has been established during the year, ensuring that the Trust has processes and systems to ensure that under normal circumstances risks are identified and reduced to an acceptable level. A Financial Reserves Policy has also been agreed, setting out the level of reserves that will ensure the long term stability of the Trust. The aim is ensure that the Trust has general reserves net of fixed assets which are sufficient to cover six months payroll and establishment costs. This policy will be reviewed on an annual basis by Trustees. • We continued to secure funding during the year for various core and project activities. We would like to thank all our funders and partners for their continued support. They include – Environment & Heritage Service, Heritage Lottery Fund, Big Lottery Fund, Better Belfast, Landfill Communities Fund, Department of Agriculture & Rural Development, Rural Development Council, Body Shop Foundation, Translink, Woodland Trust, Newry & Mourne District Council, Lisburn City Council, Down District Council, Ballymena Borough Council, Coleraine Borough Council, Omagh District Council, Fermanagh District Council, Banbridge District Council, Aggregate Industries, Department for Social Development, Belfast City Council. • At the end of the financial year the Trust had 26 dedicated and skilled employees and over 100 volunteers all working to ensure we meet our objectives. The trustees took part in governance training during the year to ensure they have the right skills to govern the organisation. plans for the future The 2007-2008 financial year is last year of the current Strategic Plan. A new Strategic Plan is currently under development to cover the period 2008 – 2013. UWT Staff
Page 1: Ulster Wildlife Trust chairman’s

Annual Report - Ulster Wildlife Trust

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?