20 years of innovative projects – some case studies

We can see the seabed recovering 

In Spring 2021, a landmark byelaw came into force off the coast of Sussex. This was a law thousands of Sussex residents had campaigned for, assisted by Sir David Attenborough. The new law said that the destructive fishing practice of bottom trawling was now banned along 300km sq of the coast, giving underwater habitats the breathing space they need to recover. Since then, a quiet but powerful transformation has unfolded beneath the waves. The UK’s largest marine rewilding initiative, the Sussex Kelp Recovery Project (SKRP), is seeing vital fish nursery grounds beginning to stabilise and the first ripples of recovery can be seen on the seabed - increases in Black Sea Bream numbers and mussel beds stretching more than a kilometre. This is rewilding in real time: patient, powerful and with nature at the helm. This incredible project was kick-started with funding in 2021 from the Postcode Lottery.

We’re ready to write a manual on bison

Lessons learned at the bison project run by Kent Wildlife Trust could influence reintroductions of large herbivores elsewhere in the country. 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. Since the arrival of the first bison, seven calves have been born and the fledgling herd is now firmly led by bossy females. 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.”

The Bay project in Lancashire and Cumbria helps Amy beat agoraphobia 

In its first five years, over a thousand people from the Morecambe Bay area have now been helped through an innovative scheme set up after the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of The Bay project has been to help lonely and isolated people find a new lease in life, courtesy of Morecambe Bay’s sweeping panoramas and wealth of wildlife. It’s run by Lancashire and Cumbria Wildlife Trusts. You can join through NHS social prescribing, but Amy, now 32, found it herself by searching online. She knew she needed help as she’d developed severe anxiety and agoraphobia. At weekly sessions, Amy learned to identify birds and marine wildlife, helped with beach cleans and took part in art and craft projects. She made friends and began to feel better. Today, a confident Amy is a leader with her local Girl Guides. She’s even taken a group of 16 teenagers to Costa Rica where, she says, the wildlife was sensational.  

The seeds of the future are planted in the Great Fen

An innovative farming project in Cambridgeshire’s Great Fens now has scientists talking about the potential uses of farmed moss and bulrushes. In 2020 experts from Beds, Cambs and Northants Wildlife Trust (BCNWT) and academia joined forces as the Water Works team 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 bulrushes, reeds, manor grass (grain for cattle), water mint, celery and sphagnum moss. Watching this in action, local farmers have been inspired to grow rice. The stems of bulrushes 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. BCNWT peat project manager Lorna Parker says 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.”

Communities come together for nature in the heart of downtown Peckham

Since 2018 London Wildlife Trust has been celebrating the return of frogs and toads to their home ponds with annual festivities at the Centre for Wildlife Gardening in Peckham. Head of engagement Abi March started the events after spending an entire evening toad watching. “I counted over a hundred,” she said. “It was spectacular – I could have been on Safari in a far-off land. The croaking, the beady little eyes glinting as I shone my torch across the pond and the females arriving with male toads on their backs.”  Hundreds of Londoners enjoy the annual celebrations, which are part of a broad offering of family-friendly events run by the Trust. Abi, who has worked around the world as an ecologist, says London’s amphibians are among her favourite creatures. “If you love nature like I do, you just want to share it with others,” she said. 

‘Big work’ in a little Bradford community garden

Young British Pakistani men in the centre of Bradford have just achieved a gold award for wildlife gardening from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Now, they are poised to take their boldest move yet. Having transformed hidden areas tucked away behind a neglected club house, they’re ready to develop its front garden, despite the risk of theft and vandalism. With the help of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Sarah Goldsmith, 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 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.”

Bringing beavers back to the UK after 400 years

This year has seen the first licenced release of beavers into the wild in England. But the story started back in 2009, when beaver couple Bjornar and Millie left Norway and arrived in Scotland.…. Beavers are natural engineers, with an unmatched ability to create healthy freshwater and woodland habitats that benefit a wealth of other wildlife. However, in the 16th century, the species was driven to extinction in the UK, seemingly consigning them to our history books. Then, in 2009 the Scottish Beaver Trial, a partnership between the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, released the first wild beavers in Scotland in over 400 years. Bjornar and Millie were the first to be translocated from Norway to Knapdale Forest in Argyll, with 16 beavers in total making the journey over the next five years. Extensive monitoring of the beavers’ ecological and socio-economic impact helped the Scottish Government make an informed decision on the species’ future and, in 2016, the reintroduction was officially declared a success. Beavers were back as a native species in Scotland, marking the first ever formal, licensed reintroduction of a native mammal to the UK. Legal protection was to follow in 2019, and subsequent translocations and natural breeding have further bolstered the size and genetic diversity of the population. In 2026, there are over 2,000 beavers thriving in Scotland’s rivers, burns and lochs.

PhD student Ben Siggery, who also works for Surrey Wildlife Trust, said:

“Funding raised by Postcode Lottery players helped fund my PHD. I’m studying palaeoecology – past ecosystems, how they change over time, and what we can learn from them – and there’s no doubt my expertise will be invaluable as we look to the past to protect our future wildlife. Without funding, there’s no way I could have afforded to take up this opportunity.”