FAQs about the Trust

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust is an independent registered charity – it is not part of the council or the government. We rely for the majority (more than two thirds) of our funding on the donations given by our members and supporters.

However, in common with other landowners, managers and farmers, the Trust can apply to government funding schemes for specific areas of our work and we currently receive, for example, environmental stewardship grants. We also participate in the Gift Aid scheme that allows all charities to recover from HMRC the tax paid on donations given by tax payers.

Where we identify the need to carry out particular projects, activities or works we make determined efforts to secure financial support from a range of sources including Heritage Lottery Fund, The Landfill Communities Fund, charitable trusts or even statutory agencies. For example we are delivering work to benefit water quality in our rivers, which is funded by The Environment Agency.

Other funds are raised through the work carried out by Worcestershire Wildlife Consultancy (which contributes its profits to the Trust); hiring out our meeting/conference rooms; adoption schemes, Christmas card sales and many other ways.

You can find more information about this on our how we're funded page.

Unfortunately there isn’t a reciprocal arrangement with these organisations and therefore your membership card will not allow access to their sites (or vice versa). However, your membership of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust does allow you to access most other Wildlife Trust reserves in the UK. There are a few sites where charges are applicable even for members, usually where visitor centres etc. offer additional facilities.

We have a small selection of items for sale in the reception of our Lower Smite Farm offices. These include, cards, calendars, identification guides, bird food etc. There is also a range of free leaflets and literature.

Some of our stock is also available from our online shop.

Cards and calendars are available from Lower Smite Farm reception (please check opening hours) and at WWT local group meetings from September onwards. Alternatively, please visit our online shop.

Trust Christmas cards also are available from October each year at Clive's Fruit Farm (Upton-upon-Severn), Upton Snodsbury Village Store, Revill's Farm Shop (Defford), Droitwich Heritage Centre, the Tudor House Museum (Worcester), Alfrick Community Shop, Cards for Good Causes (Guildhall Worcester), Martley shop, Abberley shop, The Shop at Crowle, Broadway Tourist Information Centre and The Hop Pocket Shopping Village (nr Bishop’s Frome).

Please contact us by email if you would like a speaker as we have a team of volunteers who give talks on our behalf. Please bear in mind that we receive a high number of requests for our speakers and we are not able to fulfill every one. 

We also produce a Directory of Speakers that lists wildlife-related speakers across the West Midlands who are available to give talks to groups of all sizes and interests. 

Details of booking for our events can be found on the individual event listing within our what's on pages.

We have a range of options for volunteers and you can find more information on our Volunteer pages or contact our volunteer coordinator directly by email. Please be aware that volunteers under the age of 18 will need to be accompanied by an adult.

At the moment, we do not have capacity within our team to take on work experience students. We would recommend that anyone interested in working in nature conservation should try and get experience through volunteering. We have a range of options for volunteers and you can find more information on our Volunteer Pages or contact our volunteer coordinator directly by email. Please be aware that volunteers under the age of 18 will need to be accompanied by an adult.

We offer four 12 month part time volunteer placements for young people or career changers to get training, skills and experience within the conservation sector. Take a look at our conservation trainees blogs to find out what they get up to.

For general information on our planning work please have a look at our planning page. If you’d like us to help with a specific case please email us with the planning application reference number, which is usually displayed on site notices and in the local paper, and our planning officer will be in touch. Of course, we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to help in every case but the more information you can give in your email, the easier it will be for us to respond to your query.

We respond to most key planning documents in the county so it’s likely that we’ll be standing up for wildlife by responding to policy content, site allocations and guidance on design etc. More information is available on the planning pages but if you’d like to discuss a specific document please email us and our planning officer will be in touch as soon as possible.

We can try! However, the answer will depend on what features the site has already which can be utilised –such as patches of scrub/shrubbery or a small pond. It may already include orchard trees or grasslands. For specific queries, please email us and we will make sure that you are contacted by the appropriate person to advise you.

We are very sorry but we are unable to offer birthday parties on our nature reserves.