David Parkyn
Postcode Lottery
Since 2006, players of the Postcode Lottery have raised £31 million to support our work!
From beaver reintroductions, otter counts and inspirational education programmes to joyful community festivals, this funding has had a huge impact for nature and people all over Britain.
Thanks to players of Postcode Lottery we have been able to care for beautiful nature reserves, bring back wildlife to our landscapes and restore wild places like saltmarsh, peatlands and kelp forests to tackle climate change.
With this funding we've also been able to bring people closer to nature. Thousands of school children have learned about the importance of nature, young men in Bradford have experienced wildlife gardening and in Lancashire and Cumbria over 1,000 people with anxiety were supported through a nature programme.
Thank you to players of the Postcode Lottery for supporting The Wildlife Trusts.
This work has made me realise the role nature plays in all our lives that we don’t tend to notice. I want to use my new skills to help others appreciate our natural world.
20 years of inspiring projects
Over the last 20 years, funds raised by players of the Postcode Lottery have supported projects to restore nature across landscapes, protect wildlife and bring people closer to nature. Highlights have included:- 11,000 razorbills monitored on the Scottish island of Handa
- 5,000 school children learnt about nature at Birmingham's EcoPark
- 60 football pitches-worth of chalk grassland restored in south London
- A kelp forest in Sussex, decimated by bottom trawling, is slowly being brought back to life
- Ospreys of Loch of the Lowes, in Scotland, are able to return to a safe haven, year after year
Bison © Donovan Wright
Kent Wildlife Trust are ready to write a manual on bison
Bison hadn’t roamed this land for thousands of years until, in 2020, the Postcode Lottery’s Dream Fund paid for the start of one of the country’s most innovative environmental projects in a forest in Kent.
These huge beasts, with their majestic heads and tiny bums are trampling, wallowing, bark-stripping, ecological engineers. They remove small trees, allowing grass to arrive along with insects and butterflies. Their fondness for dust baths means insects and lizards have new homes and they disperse seeds which stick to their fur. Project lead Cristina Juan, from Kent Wildlife Trust, says, “This isn’t just a local project. We are proof of concept that conservation can be done differently. We’ve learned so much about bison that we’re writing a manual.”
Chris Gomersall/2020 VISION
The seeds of the future are planted in the Great Fen
In 2020 a project began in Cambridgeshire's Great Fens to explore how to protect the peaty, watery environment of Cambridgeshire’s Great Fen in the face of climate change whilst also growing crops.
Across a 5-hectare stretch, the team raised the water table in test beds to a level where they could farm but also protect the carbon. They planted bull rushes, reeds, manor grass (grain for cattle), water mint, celery and sphagnum moss. The stems of bull rushes have been compressed and used to make particle board for the building industry. Scientists are even exploring how to use farmed moss to filter particulates from the air. Beds, Cambs & Northants Wildlife Trust's Lorna Parker said, “In the early days of our wet farming project, the Postcode Lottery trusted us to pioneer new approaches. It was incredibly empowering and meant we could experiment in ways a farmer simply couldn’t. The ripples of this project are still being felt today. We’ve been doing something physically for our children and our future world.”
West Bowling Youth Initiative garden © Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
'Big work' in a little Bradford community garden
Young British Pakistani men in the centre of Bradford have achieved a gold award for wildlife gardening from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. The West Bowling Youth Initiative has transformed litter-strewn land around a cricket club, adding a wildlife pond, a food growing space, a dry-stone wall, a handmade willow bench, a wildflower patch and a bird-feeding station.
Sarah from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust says, “We’ve found the darkest place and turned it into the brightest. That is our attitude. The work we do filters out into the lives of these wonderful young men. They become role models in their community. This is big work in a little garden.”
Issa, 21, who has been involved in the project since its inception, says, “This work has made me realise the role nature plays in all our lives that we don’t tend to notice. I want to use my new skills to help others appreciate our natural world.”
Postcode Climate Challenge
Players of the Postcode Lottery raised almost £2 million in funding for The Wildlife Trusts as part of the Postcode Climate Challenge initiative. Thanks to this funding boost, we have been able to repair and restore carbon-storing habitats on land and at sea, reduce our carbon emissions and inspire people to take action for our climate.
Scroll through our interactive story map to find out more about what this funding enabled us to achieve in one year.
