The Wildlife Trusts - History

History

Today's Wildlife Trust movement began life as The Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (SPNR), which was formed by Charles Rothschild in 1912. During the early years, membership tended to be made up of specialist naturalists and its growth was comparatively slow. The first independent Trust was formed in Norfolk in 1926 as the Norfolk Naturalists Trust, followed in 1938 by the Pembrokeshire Bird Protection Society which after several subsequent changes of name is now the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and it was not until the 1940s and 1950s that more Naturalists' Trusts were formed in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire. These early Trusts tended to focus on purchasing land to establish nature reserves in the geographical areas they served.

Encouraged by the growing number of Trusts, the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (SPNR) began in 1957 to discuss the possibility of forming a national federation of Naturalists' Trusts. Kent Naturalists Trust was established in 1958 with SPNR being active in encouraging its formation. In the following year the SPNR established the County Naturalists' Committee, which organised the first national conference for Naturalists' Trusts at Skegness in 1960. By 1964, the number of Trusts had increased to 36 and the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves had changed its name to the Society for the Promotion of Nature Conservation. In recognition of the movement's growing importance, its name was changed to The Royal Society for Nature Conservation in 1981. The organisation is now known as the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts.

The movement continued to develop throughout the 1970s, and, by the early 1980s, most of today's Trusts had been established. In 1980 the first urban Wildlife Trust (now the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country) was established in the West Midlands, rapidly followed by others in London and Bristol. This was a watershed for the movement that strengthened its focus on wildlife and people. It was during this period that some Trusts changed their names from Naturalist Societies to Trusts for Nature Conservation, and then to Wildlife Trusts. The badger logo was adopted by the movement to establish its common identity.

As the number of Trusts grew, so did their combined membership, from 3,000 in 1960 to 21,000 in 1965. Membership topped 100,000 in 1975, and in that year Wildlife Watch was launched as a children's naturalist club. By the late 1980s membership had reached 200,000, increasing to 260,000 in 1995, and over 500,000 by 2004. The combined membership for 2007 stood at 670,000 members, 108,000 belonging to the junior branch Wildlife Watch. In January 2011, membership is over 800,000, with over 150,000 Wildlife Watch members.