AnnualReview

2017/18

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Chair’s Overview

2017/18 saw MWT continue to budgetcarefully and explore new fundingstreams to enable new projects to getoff the ground and existing projectsto continue to thrive.

Our membership continues to growand it is a great credit to the MWTteam that our supporter retention rate is one of thebest across the Wildlife Trusts movement. We havealso seen an increase in support from our volunteersin nearly every aspect of our work, for which we areextremely grateful. Our vital conservation projectswould not be possible without their help.

People engagement and education continue to be akey component of our work, encouraging people tolearn more about wildlife and appreciate its value.

As I write we are awaiting clarity on the proposedEnvironment Bill and how its powers will be devolvedto Wales. The future for conservation is uncertain, butMWT will continue to face whatever challenges comeour way with a continued determination to protectbiodiversity across Montgomeryshire.

Bob WilliamsMWT Chair

Art Oasis Launch Event

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Who We AreSince 1982, theMontgomeryshire WildlifeTrust has been the leadingvoluntary organisationpromoting wildlifeconservation inMontgomeryshire, managingand caring for 18 NatureReserves within the county,totalling some 530ha in area.

Our Vision: An Environment rich in Wildlife foreveryone

Our Mission: To rebuild biodiversity and engagepeople with their environment

Our Objectives:1) To stand up for wildlife and the

environment2) To create and enhance wildlife

havens3) To inspire people about the

natural world4) To foster sustainable living

Membership and Volunteers2017/18 saw further growth in our membership, with 124 newhouseholds joining the Trust. The number of households supportingour work now stands at 1144 and the number of individualmembers has risen to 2097.

The Trust has benefitted from its retail opportunities, including ashop at both the Welshpool office and Cors Dyfi Nature Reserve, aswell as an online shop. With a wide range of local gifts and wildliferelated items, the shops also represent an additional source ofincome for the Trust.

MWT is committed to the protection and promotion of wildlife inMontgomeryshire. However, we are also a relatively small Trust,facing new challenges every year. Without the continued andcommitted support of our volunteers we would not be able to deliverour vital work across the county. Whether braving all weathers on theweekly work parties, offering admin support or joining the Trusteeboard our volunteers go above and beyond to support their localWildlife Trust and we are deeply grateful for them.

In total, during the 2017/18 period, our volunteers have donated2322 days of their time with a value to the Trust of £116,121.

Volunteers Collecting Washed Up Rubbish

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PeopleandWildlifeArt OasisThe Art Oasis project continued toforge links with local groups andorganisations, individuals,volunteers, schools and businessesto connect people to theirenvironment and inspire them tocare for their natural world using

the arts. During early 2018 the ArtIntervention Retreat Trail projectheld 10 sessions working withsubstance misuse clients and localartists to produce nature inspiredart/craft work which was placed onpanels around Welshpool to form atrail. The project also engaged with

Powys Young Carers, local YouthServices, Cedewain and BettwsLifehouse special needs schoolsand local families, engaging youngpeople with the natural world andencouraging them to get creative!

CommunityOutreach andEvents

MWT were delighted to be invitedto give talks to a variety of localgroups on a number of subjects,including a thought provoking

Retreat Trail Panel

Crafts at SFP

Nature Photgraphy Christmas Nature Crafts

presentation on “Plastic Soup” andthe crisis facing our seas, given tothe Montgomeryshire Federation ofWomen’s Institutes. We were alsoable to engage with visitors atseveral local events, offeringactivities and wildlife advice at theNewtown Food Festival, MontyStreet Fair and Welshpool WinterFestival.

The Trust provided a programmeof informative and enjoyable eventsfor all ages. The 2017/18 eventscalendar aimed to offer somethingfor everybody, ranging fromsketching and craft through tobeginners guides to plants, moths,bats, birds and bugs! There werefamily events such as the springfamily fun day and the Wild Playsessions at Severn Farm Pond andeven a quiz night to raise funds forthe PBF appeal. We also offered aseries of guided walks designed toshowcase our nature reserves,including Llanymynech Rocks,Llandinam Gravels and Glaslyn,which aimed to tell people aboutthe various species which can befound on each site, as well as ourwork to protect them.

Friends of SevernFarm PondOver the past year the Friends ofSevern Farm Pond group hasgrown, welcoming several newmembers, and learning anddeveloping new skills. Themembers have been involved invarious projects, such as helping tocreate a brash hedge and theremoval of the old boardwalk, aswell as continuing with ongoing

maintenance of the reserve andcommunity garden. The volunteershave also been tapping in to theircreative side by making newadditions for the reserve includingthe giant bug hotel ‘BugkinghamPalace’ designed by one of thevolunteers which includes a waterbutt! The FOSFP team were alsodelighted to see their hard workrewarded with a Community GreenFlag Award in 2017.

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Bugkingham Palace

Cors DyfiDyfi OspreyProject

2017 turned out to be the lastbreeding year for our female,Glesni. In her fifth successful yearthe pair raised a clutch of threechicks, a boy, Aeron and two girls,Menai and Eitha. We alsocelebrated a new milestone whenClarach, a 2013 chick, bred for thefirst time at a nest in Aberfoyle,Scotland, raising two chicks.

Education andEventsAt Cors Dyfi we like to offer newexperiences to our visitors as webelieve you never stop learning.

Following the success of ourintroductory ‘plants for beginners’and ‘birds for beginners’ sessionswe trialled a new session called‘sketching nature for beginners’. Itproved hugely popular and we planto offer more sessions next year.Events like this broaden our reachin to the community and help us toengage more people with thenatural world, including those whomay not usually do so.

Conservation

October to March is the time for ourweekly work parties. During winter2017/18, in addition to routinemaintenance and general reserve

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2017 Ospreys

Beginners Sketching at Cors Dyfi

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management, we focused ourefforts on clearing scrub around thelower pools on the site. Willow andbirch growth was beginning toencroach on the pond margins and

by clearing this back we hope tomaintain a more open habitataround the pools. Rather thanremoving large quantities of materialfrom the reserve we have created anumber of skillfully built habitat pilesthat will provide refuge above theflood levels for many of our reptiles,amphibians and invertebrates.

Volunteers

Once again the Dyfi Osprey Projectwas supported by a wonderfulteam of volunteers. During the2017/18 period, over 100volunteers donated more than8000 hours between them. A lot ofthis time came from our dedicatedteam of red tops who are on hand

to welcome and assist visitors toCors Dyfi and the 360 Observatory.We mustn’t forget the unsungheroes of the protection team whoguard the osprey nest 24/7 fornearly six weeks during eggincubation. This is to monitor thebirds and protect the nest from anyhuman disturbance which coulddamage the breeding success ofthis pair and the recovery of thespecies in Wales. Although theproject closes in the autumn, thevolunteer work continues with ourwinter work party team. They arenot afraid of throwing on somegloves and wellies and gettingstuck in to some hard work to tidyup the reserve. The volunteers areour most valuable asset and wesimply couldn’t do it without them!

Bug Hotel at Cors Dyfi

Cors Dyfi Volunteers

Nature Reserves

The Trust’s 18 Nature Reservesoffer a range of habitats rich inresources for wildlife. Not only arethese sites havens for the specieswho live there, they are alsoinspiring places to visit for peoplewanting to engage with the naturalworld on their doorstep. Thesesites are maintained by the MWTstaff and volunteers who attendweekly work parties undertakingvital land management. As well asthe inevitable scrub clearance,fencing and hedge planting therehave been more specialist tasksundertaken during 2017/18, such asthe ring barking of the Red Cedarsat Dolforwyn Woods and the use ofa mobile saw mill to convert someof the Cedar into timber that canbe used on the nature reserves. AtSevern Farm Pond the removal ofsections of the old boardwalk wasstarted and new boardwalk will be

installed later in 2018. At RedHouse volunteers have helpedinstall a large bug hotel and atDolydd Hafren boxes for TreeSparrows have been erected.

In order to check the positiveimpact of these works, monitoringand surveys are undertaken

throughout theyear, includingbreeding birdsurveys, BTOWeBS surveys,and monitoring ofPied Flycatchers,Dormice, Lesser Horseshoe Batsand Butterflies.

Wider Countryside

The Where the Wild Things Areproject surveyed 54 Local WildlifeSites (LWS) in Powys with 21 ofthose being in Montgomeryshire.The sites include wetlands, ffridd,standing open water and mosaichabitats and almost half weregrassland sites, the most vulnerablehabitat. Across Powys, the projectengaged with 111 event participants

Living Landscapes

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Ring Barking at Dolforwyn Woods

Local Wildlife Site Surveying

Dormouse

and 260 stakeholders. InMontgomeryshire alone, 13individual volunteers took part inLWS events and surveys.After another poor weather springpushed the Pearl-bordered Fritillary(PBF) butterfly even closer to theedge, we launched our ‘PBF: ANew Hope’ appeal. This was asuccess, raising over £16,000 intime to carry out urgent habitatmanagement work on theremaining sites. In all, 5 hectares ofscrub and bracken managementwas undertaken on 5 sites. We alsoworked with Greengage Films toproduce ‘Precious Pearls’, a shortfilm about our work for PBFs,narrated by Iolo Williams.

We continue to stand up forwildlife throughout the county and,during 2017/18, we providedobjections or comments to 17Powys County Council planningapplications, seven of which wereintensive agricultural units. Onsocial media, our followersincreased by over 15% and we setup an Instagram account. Ourwebsite received over 18,000 newvisitors over the year! We were also

able to provide the local recordingcommunity and the BiodiversityInformation Service with 2,900species records gathered throughour work, from volunteers andfrom members of the public.

Pumlumon

In previous years the Pumlumonproject has shown how sustainableland management can supportrural farming and local wildlife. In2017/18 the Trust and its partnershave been working with the WelshGovernment to investigateinnovative ways of funding thiswork in the future. SeveralMontgomeryshire farmers havecontributed to the project andMWT continue to lead the way inthe promotion of Eco-SystemServices and their importance forthe future of farming in Wales.

Deri Woods

Following a successful bid to theHeritage Lottery Fund, the DeriWoods project, working in

conjunction with Llanfair CaereinionTown Council, is set to continue till2019. Popular monthly volunteerwork parties have made a significantimpact on the site with woodlandmanagement tasks such ascoppicing, bird box maintenance,creating dead hedges, thinning ofnon-native species andinfrastructure maintenance toestablish a more natural groundflora, increase biodiversity andimprove access to the site.

This winter has also seen our ‘Wildto Work’ team supporting theproject and creating a new seatingarea, while contractors haveundertaken essential tree surgeryand footpath repairs, to alleviatethe continual flooding due to poordrainage.

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New Seating Area at Deri Woods

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The summarised accountsherewith are an extract from theCharity’s statutory annual reportand accounts for the year ended31st March 2018. WhittinghamRiddell LLP reported on theaccounts as independent auditors.

The annual report and accountswas approved by the Trustees on18th September 2018

These summarised accounts maynot contain sufficient informationto gain a complete understandingof the financial affairs of theCharity. Copies of the full statutoryannual report and accounts may beobtained from the Charity’sregistered office: MontgomeryshireWildlife Trust, 42 Broad Street,Welshpool, Powys, SY21 7RR.

Trustees who served during theyear and subsequently:

Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust

Financial StatementsFor the year end 31st March 2018

Thank You We would like to thank thefollowing organisations for theirfinancial support during theyear:

RSWTNatural Resources WalesWelsh GovernmentHilltop HoneyPotters WasteRGB KewVine House FarmsMercers’ Charitable FoundationTesco’s Bags of Help SchemeDepartment for Work andPensionsPowys County Council ArwainHeritage Lottery FundThe Co-operativePeople’s Postcode Lottery

Furthermore, we would like tothank all the individuals andgroups who made donations toMontgomeryshire Wildlife Trust,whether financially or throughvolunteering.

Bob WilliamsChair

Chris HurrellVice Chair

Val LewisSecretary(Resigned 26thSeptember 2017)

Ann BitconTreasurer

Chris Fuller(Resigned 2ndJanuary 2018)

Mike Green

Simon Boyes

Jane LloydFrancis

Peter Powell

Tim McVey

Jill Robinson(Joined 14thApril 2018)

………………………….

Chris TownsendPresident

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MontgomeryshireWildlife Trust42 Broad Street, Welshpool, Powys, SY21 7RRTel: 01938 555654 | Email: info@montwt.co.ukCharity number: 512390 | Company number: 1612249

www.montwt.co.ukCover Photo: Pearl-bordered Fritillary