Badger by Andrew Parkinson/2020VISION
About us
We are part of the Wildlife Trusts movement, the UK’s leading network of nature conservation charities, working together to protect wildlife and restore nature across the country.
We are your local wildlife charity, working across Lancashire, Greater Manchester and North Merseyside to protect and restore the places that wildlife needs, while helping people connect with nature and take action for it.
Who we are
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside was founded in 1962 by local people who recognised that action was needed to protect our wildlife and wild places.
More than 60 years later, we are the largest local nature conservation organisation in the area, working across Lancashire, Greater Manchester, North Merseyside and the surrounding coast and sea. We combine local knowledge and action with the strength of the wider Wildlife Trusts movement, giving us the reach to tackle the big challenges facing nature while staying rooted in the communities we serve.
We protect and manage more than 1,288 hectares of land for wildlife, including nature reserves, wetlands, woodlands, grasslands, peatlands and coastal habitats. These are important places for wildlife, providing space for rare and threatened species while helping nature recover and become more resilient.
Our work is made possible by tens of thousands of members and donors, whose support provides vital funding for wildlife conservation across our region. We also work with more than 4,000 volunteers, including around 1,200 people who volunteer with us regularly, alongside a team of around 140 staff.
There are many ways to get involved. Our volunteers help us manage nature reserves, monitor wildlife, support visitors, deliver education and events, raise funds, campaign for nature and contribute their expertise across the organisation, they even bake our delicious home made cakes that can be purchased when visiting our sites. Together, they make an enormous difference to wildlife and to the places where people live.
We also help the next generation discover and care about nature, reaching around 20,000 children each year through environmental education and engagement. Our work includes schools, community projects, outdoor learning and opportunities for people of all ages to experience nature for themselves.
Our visitors can truly immerse themselves in nature at our nature reserves, three of which are home to sustainable and environmentally focused visitor centres. The most well known is the award winning floating visitor centre at Brockholes Nature Reserve - Preston, which has become a landmark for sustainable design and nature based tourism in the region.
Our Mission
To enable wildlife’s recovery in our area by working in partnership with others to conserve, restore, create and connect habitats and to increase species abundance; and to connect people with nature and help them to take action for wildlife, wherever they are.
Our Vision
Nature is recovering on a grand scale across Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, and in our sea, and that everyone is able to enjoy our increasingly abundant wildlife.
