The Cheshire Wildlife Trust looks after a network of 45 nature reserves with habitats ranging from grasslands and wet meadows to reedbeds, coastal dunes and wetlands.
Our reserves provide a refuge for rare species including natterjack toads, great crested newts, the bittern and a wide range of dragonflies and butterflies. Mammals such as otters and water voles are regularly recorded on our reserves, and our Gowy Meadows nature reserve has one of the largest varieties of aquatic invertebrates found anywhere in the UK. We’re also working hard to bring some of the region’s rarest wildlife back to Cheshire including white-faced darter dragonflies.
We are now working to connect large parts of our nature reserve network through our Living Landscape scheme, by working with farmers, landowners and communities to link-up the best pieces of the rural jigsaw for wildlife. This allows species to move freely along natural corridors like rivers and hedgerows and gives wildlife breathing space under the pressures of development and climate change.
Our work across the region is backed by dozens of events each year, and we inspire thousands of children both at our Bickley Hall Farm HQ and through outreach projects in the classroom.
As the region’s leading wildlife charity, we act as a voice for wildlife and the environment, meeting with those who shape and influence our countryside from your local community to Westminster.