How we are run

Chris has been a Vice President of The Wildlife Trusts since 1996. Chris has been involved with the wider movement since the 60s being a founding member of the Urban Wildlife Group in Birmingham, which went on to become The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country of which Chris is a Vice President. 

Chris is a horticulturalist, broadcaster, landscape architect and author. He was an early advocate of wildlife gardening and has published books on the subject; he is also an environmental advisor and advised on the sustainability at the 2012 Olympic Park in East London.  

Naturalist and Presenter Nick Baker will be known to many for his time on the BBC The Really Wild Show but has presented an extraordinary number of shows including Autumnwatch Unsprung, Springwatch Unsprung, Big Week at the Zoo and Weird Creatures with Nick Baker. 

He has also authored a number of books including ReWild – The Art of Returning to Nature and Nick Baker’s Bug Book. Nick has been Vice President of The Wildlife Trusts since 2005. 

Biologist, Gillian Burke, is known to many as co-host on BBC’s Spring, Autumn and Winterwatch. Her engaging style, passion for science and love of the natural world have made her a firm favourite on the show.

Dr Amir Khan's enthusiasm captivates you through the screen, and it's no wonder that he's become a firm favourite with the public following his appearance on Channel 5's GPs Behind Closed Doors. He's gone on to cement himself as daytime TV's go-to GP as a regular on Lorraine and Good Morning Britain. His passion for the natural world is infectious. He has been an advocate for green prescribing for a number of years, knowing the benefit the natural world has for people, particularly their mental health and well-being. 

Dr Amir Khan says: "The natural world has something for everyone. And it has an incredible effect on us all. We've seen from studies that exposure to green spaces, from vast, undeveloped landscapes to urban parks and street greenery, lowers the body's stress hormone cortisol. We know that children and young people who have access are more creative and imaginative. It has been a pleasure working with The Wildlife Trusts, and I'm so proud to be able to give something back by becoming a Vice President. They have been pioneers in championing nature for health and well-being, from nature-friendly schools to the annual nature challenge 30 Days Wild. There really is something for everyone with The Wildlife Trusts!"

David founded the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford in 1986, with a research focus on solving problems in wildlife conservation and environment management to better inform policy. David has been a Vice President for The Wildlife Trusts since 1999. 

Bill is a writer, comedian, television presenter and actor most notably known for being one of The Goodies. Bill has had an incredible career as a TV presenter, fronting a number of wildlife programmes for the BBC, including Springwatch and Autumnwatch, How to Watch Wildlife, Wild in Your Garden, Birding with Bill Oddie, Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie and Bill Oddie Goes Wild. Bill has been a Vice President of The Wildlife Trusts since 2000.  

Julian is a journalist and presenter, and has worked across the BBC and ITV. His career started as an announcer on Southern Television in 1958, before going on to present Tonight, 24 Hour and Panorama for the BBC.

His interest in the natural world led him to go on to write and present a number of environment and wildlife-focused programmes including Naturewatch, Nature and The Living Isles. He became a Vice President in 1992 and is currently our longest serving VP.  

Iolo and the natural world go hand in hand, you can't have one without the other. His documentaries, in Welsh and English, have been the introduction for many to the magnificent wildlife of Wales. Iolo is one of BBC's Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch presenters. He has been supportive of The Wildlife Trusts for a long time now and we were excited to have him take up the position of Vice President. Iolo's sage advice over the years has seen him become a vital partner for the movement. 

Iolo Wiliams says: "I'm very pleased, delighted, in fact, to say that I am a Vice President for The Wildlife Trusts. I've worked with The Wildlife Trusts in Wales for over 40 years. In that time, with this brilliant organisation, I have met and worked with members of staff who are knowledgeable, enthusiastic and always ready to help. If I can play just a small role in championing the work that they do, I'll be a happy man."

Sir Robert Worcester is the Founder of MORI, Market & Opinion Research International, and in October 2005, he became chairman of the Ipsos Public Affairs Research Advisory Board and an International Director of the Ipsos Group. He was subsequently appointed by Her Majesty the Queen a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in recognition of the outstanding services rendered to political, social and economic research.

He has authored, co-authored, co‑edited or edited more than a dozen books and many articles in newspapers, magazines and in peer-reviewed professional journals. Just as importantly, for us anyway, he has been our loyal and esteemed Vice President since 1995, making him our second longest serving Vice President.

A lifelong environmentalist, David was appointed Chair of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust in 2016. Following a career in the National Rivers Authority and the Environment Agency, David retired from the role of Executive Director of Operations in 2015.  He has a degree in Environmental Biology and a Masters in Freshwater Ecology. During his career, David had full accountability for all of the Environment Agency’s operations across England and Wales including pollution control, incident response, flood risk management and conservation.

David worked with Interpol on international environmental crime, focusing on the illegal trade in rhino horn, having previously advised Interpol over a number of years on wildlife, fisheries and forestry crime and intelligence-led enforcement. David is also the Chair of Sand Dams Worldwide, a charity which delivers water and soil conservation and sustainable agriculture in Africa.

David tries to practice what he preaches. Owning land in Devon and in France, David has developed a wildlife lake, a wildflower meadow (with all of its difficulties!) and a thriving orchid meadow in France with land where barn owls and nightingales currently breed.

A Loughborough graduate in Business, Economics and Finance as well as a qualified chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, Pete worked for 11 years at Big 4 Accountancy firm Ernst & Young and British Telecom in senior restructuring and advisory roles. Pete joined Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in 2013 as Director of Finance and Central Services, where he worked for seven and a half years, playing a key role in the Wildlife Trust’s growth and successes during this period. In 2021 Pete become the Chief Financial Officer of Double Two Clothing and William Sugdens Workwear, where he was Interim Chief Executive Officer. Pete is now Chief Commercial Officer of the SIL Group, a UK based group of luxury textiles manufacturing businesses.

Pete has served as a member of The Wildlife Trust Audit and Resources Committee for three years now and has a strong understanding of the financial position of TWT and financial and operational matters affecting all Trusts across the movement. Pete’s skills includes financial restructuring, turnaround, transactions advisory, process improvement, formal insolvency and pensions advisory. Pete lives in York with his wife Amy and three boys who are all fast becoming little adventurous wildlife enthusiasts. He is a keen sportsman, having played football professionally in his youth and also enjoys golf and tennis amongst other sports. His interest in wildlife has led him and his family on various adventures across the UK and internationally to experience and photograph many iconic species in the natural environment. He doesn’t go anywhere without his infrared motion cameras, drone or trusty binoculars.

Prue leads BBOWT’s conservation efforts beyond their nature reserves. This includes undertaking monitoring and management of Living Landscapes, establishing muti-stakeholder conservation partnerships, and working with planners, developers, companies and private landowners to achieve positive outcomes for wildlife. Recently she led a partnership of four Wildlife Trusts along with financial advisors Finance Earth to develop a habitat banking investment approach. This has helped prepare the Wildlife Trusts for forthcoming Biodiversity Net Gain  regulation, to create strategically located habitat banking sites that deliver fantastic wildlife improvements and address local developer requirements to achieve Biodiversity Net Gain.

Beyond Biodiversity Net Gain, Prue has been working with the private sector since 2016, developing guidance to support businesses be more transparent in accounting for their biodiversity impacts and dependencies, and advising businesses on how to become Nature Positive.

Prue has a PhD in conservation decision-making from the University of Melbourne in Australia and is currently a Research Associate at the University of Oxford’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science and the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery. She is a collaborator on numerous research projects, helping to identify research pathways to achieve real world impact. 

Prue’s career has taken her from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, to company boardrooms in London, to the rare floodplain meadows of Oxfordshire. Prue enjoys walking and discovering new places in the British countryside, wildlife gardening, yoga, swimming and learning Portuguese.

He previously chaired the Northern Ireland Biodiversity Group (NIBG) and was a member of the Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside (NI) from 2000 to 2009.  For six years he was a member of the Northern Ireland Committee of Heritage Lottery Fund. Bob was also a member of the Biodiversity Working Group of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Council on behalf of CNCC.

From 2009 – 2017 he was an independent member of the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and chaired their Marine Protected Areas sub-group for most of that time, notably during a period of intense MPA designation work in the UK. From 2016 to 2022 he was Chair of the NI Advisory Board for National Trust. 

Bob has previously served terms on Ulster Wildlife’s Council and is currently a co-opted member UW’s Environment Committee.  When not working on conservation issues at home, Bob gives lectures and wildlife excursions from expedition ships in the Arctic and Antarctic.  In 2004 he was awarded an OBE for services to nature conservation.

Lara was appointed as a trustee of the Avon Wildlife Trust in 2022 and became Chair of the Board in late 2023. She is also a long-term supporter of a number of other charities that have a focus on protecting the natural environment, including Fauna and Flora International and The Woodland Trust.   

Lara has been a partner at an international law firm since 2001, specialising in commercial law. She is currently the head of the firm's Bristol office, where her work increasing centres on projects that support biodiversity and decarbonisation.

Her life outside work centres around her family and friends, her wildlife-friendly garden and her very mischievous rescue pets. She loves taking her teenage children on walks in the countryside around Bristol, but hasn't yet convinced them to join her on any of her wild swimming trips.

Steve was active in a number of regional and national museum organisations, including a period as Chair of Museums & Libraries North West and was a member of the North West Heritage Lottery Fund Committee. He joined the Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside Wildlife Trust in 1986, became a Trustee and was Chair from 2014 to 2021. He is an enthusiastic general naturalist with specialist knowledge of entomology and bats and has a burning desire to share his knowledge.

Steve is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and of the Museums Association. Other than his passion for wildlife, Steve enjoys hill-climbing (Munros completed in 2019), photography, gardening, cycling, cooking, tennis and rock music.

Rosey has worked in health and well-being for over 30 years, within the NHS, private practice and university settings. In addition to hands-on practice, Rosey has developed modules and courses, mentored students and young professionals and been involved in research and supervision. Rosey was also a founder member of the British Acupuncture Council bringing together five professional bodies into one organisation, to regulate the acupuncture profession.

All her life Rosey has spent her free time outdoors, exploring wild places, learning about and enjoying the natural world. Having done a lot of travelling, including two years living in China, she took the decision in 2000 to stop flying. This year she has also tried to ditch the car and use the train as much as possible (not always easy living in mid-Wales!).

Rosey became a member of Brecknock Wildlife Trust in 2013, joined the board in 2015, becoming joint Vice Chair the same year and then Chair in 2017. During this period as chair, she led the Wildlife Trust through its merger with Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales, which was completed in April 2018. She was also involved in a strategic review, a board effectiveness review and an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) review. She became EDI lead for the board in 2022 and currently sits on a working group with staff members. As Brecknock Vice Chair and Chair, Rosey sat on the board of Wildlife Trusts Wales and gained a good insight into the Wildlife Trust movement across Wales.

She is a young trustee at Power2, Leap Confronting Conflicts and Career Connect, and a Young Trustee Movement Champion. She is the Head of Grants of GirlDreamer, an NGO that supports the personal and professional development of millennial and Gen Z women of colour.

Nina was born and grew up in Beijing, China and has been living in the UK since 2015. Besides English, she speaks native Mandarin, fluent Spanish and basic German.

Nick has been a trustee of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust for over 20 years and is their current Chair. He has always had a particular interest in urban wildlife. He was born and raised in South Yorkshire before studying History at University in Nottingham.

He is a solicitor and was a partner at a national law firm Browne Jacobson for 25 years and is now an active consultant for them. Nick specialised in civil litigation, defending claims for clinical negligence and personal injury on behalf of the NHS, local authorities and their insurers. With expertise in large scale group action claims and he has taken a number of cases to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

For the last few years Nick has been a Director, shareholder and guide in Oriole Birding, a travel company specialising in birdwatching and wildlife holidays in the UK and abroad.

Over the years, Nick has been a Trustee of several small charities and enjoys trying to give something back. As Chair his efforts are now focussed on helping the Wildlife Trust to meet the existential threats posed by the nature and climate crises. 

A longstanding but as yet unfulfilled ambition is to spend more time outdoors than indoors, as his real passion is birdwatching. He became a birder as a young boy on a holiday to Scotland when one morning on a family walk he found a pied flycatcher and a hen harrier. Nick lives with his partner Jane and their teenage daughter. As a proud Yorkshireman he has a deep love of cricket but enjoys most sports. Nick particularly enjoys history, archaeology and owns an allotment.

Jo was Project Director for the World Forum on Natural Capital, which ran three times between 2013 and 2017 with the most recent event bringing over 700 delegates from 60 countries to Edinburgh.

Jo is on the Steering Group for the Scottish Conservation Finance Project, as well as the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital. She is Chief Executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scotland’s leading nature conservation charity, and a board member at Turning Point Scotland.

Julian is a passionate environmentalist who believes that everyone has a right to a healthy natural environment. His career has spanned a range of communications, external affairs and leadership roles in the private, charity and public sectors. He has extensive experience in strategy development, advocacy, campaigning, partnerships and change management.

Julian joined Staffordshire Wildlife Trust as Chief Executive in 2015. Highlights include new multi-million pound landscape-scale conservation partnerships in Stoke on Trent and the Trent Valley, the Wildlife Trust’s first State of Nature Report and an increase in the its profile and membership to more than 17,000.

Before that, Julian was Chief Executive of the Campaign for National Parks, where he successfully campaigned to help stop UK Government funding cuts to National Park Authorities. Prior to that he was Director of External Affairs and Communications at Natural England, where he led the organisation’s communications, stakeholder and public affairs work.

Julian was also Head of Communications for WWF’s Arctic Programme, based in Norway, where he led international campaigns to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change and hazardous chemicals on arctic people and wildlife. Prior to joining WWF, he held senior communications roles in Shell.

Julian lives in the Peak District with his family, and is passionate about creating a wilder National Park there.

Alderney Wildlife Trust

Avon Wildlife Trust

Beds, Cambs and Northants Wildlife Trust

Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust

Birmingham and the Black Country Wildlife Trust

Cheshire Wildlife Trust

Cornwall Wildlife Trust

Cumbria Wildlife Trust

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust

Devon Wildlife Trust

Dorset Wildlife Trust

Durham Wildlife Trust

Essex Wildlife Trust

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust

Gwent Wildlife Trust

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust

Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust

Kent Wildlife Trust

Lancashire Wildlife Trust

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

London Wildlife Trust

Manx Wildlife Trust

Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust

Norfolk Wildlife Trust

North Wales Wildlife Trust

Northumberland Wildlife Trust

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

Radnorshire Wildlife Trust

Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust

Scottish Wildlife Trust

Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust

Shropshire Wildlife Trust

Somerset Wildlife Trust

The Wildlife Trust for South and West Wales

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust

Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Surrey Wildlife Trust

Sussex Wildlife Trust

Tees Valley Wildlife Trust

Ulster Wildlife Trust

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust