Holly Wilkinson Media

🦫Today you join us for our last instalment for Beaver Week. We have been marking the half year milestone with content all week about our newest aquatic mammal family. 👉Here's Ben in our Northants team with another beaver packed video showing more of their habitat restoration, their lodge and the new interp boards with loads of information about the beavers and more. 👏Thanks to Beaver Trust for support, Anglian Water - Love Every Drop for helping fund the project and everyone who donated to our appeal. A huge thanks to our trail camera sponsors Graf UK Ltd and supplier Vosker If you want to support work like this then find out about our Wilder Future Fund at www.wildlifebcn.org/wilderfuturefund

🦫Six months ago we released beavers at our Nene Wetlands Nature Reserve in Northants and they have been very busy! It's Beaver Week here at the Wildlife Trust BCN - we are marking the half year milestone with content all week about our newest aquatic mammal family. Here's Ben in our Northants team to take us on a tour of the enclosure to see how the beavers are already helping to regenerate the habitat here. We'll have more from Ben and the team later on in the week - stay tuned beaver fans! 👏Thanks to Beaver Trust for support, Anglian Water for helping fund the project and everyone who donated to our appeal.

🤩An amazing transformation is happening at New Decoy Farm in the Great Fen in Cambridgeshire. 🌿25 hectares – or 60 football pitches - of former agricultural land is being turned into a wetland which will be home to birds, otters, water voles, dragonflies, frogs and toads. Diggers have been hard at work since April creating ditches, ponds and meres and the site is starting to take shape. The carbon-rich peat soil rests on clay under the surface which will keep the water in as it fills over the winter months. 🤞The work is part of our Peatland Progress project which is funded by the National Lottery and the hundreds of people who generously donated to our Landmark Appeal. Wetlands are vital for restoring lost wildlife and we know we need to do even more for the nature that relies on them - but projects like this need funding. 👉Do your bit and support the Wilder Future Fund today - donate, fundraise and make a difference. Visit wildlifebcn.org/wilderfuturefund

We have an ambitious plan to save nature in our region but we need your help. Today we're launching our new five year plan to halt biodiversity declines in our region. Nature needs our help and we need to do more - that's why we're also launching the Wilder Future Fund, a £1.5m fund to help protect nature reserves, support wildlife conservation in the wider countryside, tackle climate change and inspire people to engage with wildlife on their doorstep. Chief Executive Brian Eversham said: “From the ancient woodlands of south Cambridgeshire, the globally important peatland landscape of the Fens, the wildflower rich chalk downlands of Bedfordshire and the wetlands of Northamptonshire, the nature of this region is worth fighting for, and that’s the ambition we have laid out in this plan.” Read the full news story at https://www.wildlifebcn.org/news/ps15million-fund-launched-halt-species-declines-region And learn more about the Wilder Future Fund at www.wildlifebcn.org/wilderfuturefund

More than 100 water voles have been released at the Nene Wetlands Nature Reserve as part of ambitious plans to restore the species to Northamptonshire. Last week 116 water voles bred in captivity were released to the nature reserve and more will follow next year. The release was funded and licensed by Natural England as part of its Species Recovery Programme. Water voles have suffered in the UK in recent years. Their numbers have been decimated as a result of habitat loss and the impact of invasive mink along waterways.

💧Wetlands are vital for nature in our region - but they have declined massively and are still under threat. 🐄At the Great Fen we've brought in grazing red poll cows to help us as we transform a drained landscape back into a wetland. 🤞This work needs secure long term funding - and you can play your part through the Wilder Future Fund today. Help make a difference - make a one off donation, set up monthly giving or organise a fundraising event in your community. 👉You can donate here https://www.wildlifebcn.org/wilderfuturefund

🩷Happy International Women's Day! 🦸We're celebrating the amazing women that work in conservation. 🥳We caught up with Lara and Megan to find out why they love their jobs and what their role entails. 🌟We hope they will inspire women and girls who love nature and are considering a career in wildlife conservation to find out more about our events where you can meet our staff or how to volunteer with us, head to our website www.wildlifebcn.org

Looking after nature reserves often requires careful management in order to maintain a specific type of habitat for particular plants and animals. For 47 of our reserves across the three counties, this involves some type of grazing by livestock. The Trust uses sheep and cattle, depending on what we want to achieve for a specific site, to control scrub growth, keep areas open or help manage the structure of the plant life to benefit certain species. We caught up with Thomas Baker Grazing Manager and Jane Pearman Lilbourne Meadows Manager to find out more about our cows and sheep and how they look after our reserves. Find out more here https://www.wildlifebcn.org/grazing

We are a 50% shareholder in Muchwood Green Burials. Situated on the outskirts of Ramsey, Muchwood is a beautiful, peaceful developing woodland with a wealth of wildlife that we are helping to monitor; the ideal resting place for those who wish their death to contribute positively to nature. Funerals can be simple or personalised, traditional or alternative, and all faiths and cultures are welcomed. Ash interments are also offered. WTBCN members can get 5% off three of their packages. To find out more head to our website https://www.wildlifebcn.org/about-us/green-burials