Wildlife trust celebrates milestone triple anniversary

A wildlife conservation charity will celebrate three milestone anniversaries in 2026.

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust reflects on its work to protect and enhance wildlife and wild places across the two counties over 70 years.

It also marks 50 years of the creation of Rutland Water Nature Reserve, which in 1976 had the largest man-made reservoir in Europe.

The trust further celebrates 30 years since the reintroduction of ospreys to Rutland, which had been regionally extinct since 1847.

Special anniversary events will take place across its sites and reserves throughout the year to mark the milestones.

These include wild walks led by expert reserve officers, osprey events, an open day at Cossington Meadows in Leicestershire for families and a celebration evening.

The trust, which was founded in 1956, has grown over the seven decades, and now has 37 sites, with more than 19,000 members and 700 volunteers supporting the conservation work.

One of the first reserves to come into its care in the 1960s was Charnwood Lodge, in Coalville, which is now a national nature reserve recognised for its geology and wildlife.

The establishment of Rutland Water Nature Reserve followed in 1976 - after one of the first agreements of its kind with Anglian Water - which saw a newly-constructed seven-mile reservoir and about 350 acres of surrounding land.

Five years later, the reserve was internationally recognised as part of the Site of Special Scientific Interest and later declared a Special Protection Area and Ramsar Wetland of International Importance.

Rutland Water has developed over the decades with a new visitor centre and a volunteer training centre - both opened by Sir David Attenborough.

In 2021, a 33ft (10m) long ichthyosaur fossil - one of the largest sea dragons found in the UK - was unearthed at the reserve during a routine draining of a lagoon.

The trust has had numerous successful campaigns, including launching the Rutland Osprey Project in1996, where chicks were translocated from nests in Scotland and released at Rutland Water after having been extinct in the county.

In 2001, the first osprey was born in England after more than 150 years, with a total of 300 successfully fledged to date.

The trust said volunteers have recorded six million birds over 15,000 hours, comprised of 131 species at Rutland Water as part of the Wetland Bird Survey.

Dormice have been reintroduced to Leicestershire and more than 11,000 trees have been planted at Holwell.

Several reserves have also been expanded and work has begun on an initiative to turn 130 acres (54 hectares) of nature-depleted land into a wildlife haven in Market Harborough and a new reserve in Great Bowden, which is due to open later this year.

Mat Carter, the trust's chief executive, said: "We can look back at these last seven decades of conservation work with pride.

"The victories achieved for the wildlife of Leicestershire and Rutland show what is possible in the continuing fight for nature's recovery.

"Our reserve network continues to expand and our projects in the wider countryside grow in diversity and depth.

"Rewilding Harborough is a landscape-scale endeavour, this is the level of our ambitions going forward."

Ann Tomlinson, chairwoman of the Trustee Council, added: "We all know there is still so much work needed to ensure that nature - constantly under threat - can recover and be there for generations to come.

"The work of the trust can make that vital recovery a reality."

The charity added it would continue to work towards its 2030 goals of "seeing nature restored and resilient" in Leicestershire and Rutland.

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