Plant nursery © Devon Wildlife Trust
The National Lottery Heritage Fund
The National Lottery – and with it National Lottery funding for Good Causes – was established in 1994. Every ticket sold contributes funds to good causes across the UK.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly known as the Heritage Lottery Fund, is the largest dedicated funder of heritage in the UK.
Since its creation, The Wildlife Trusts have worked closely with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Together we have connected people to nature and each other, saved precious wildlife-rich places, created new woodlands, wetlands and meadows and protected rare and endangered species and habitats.
The hundreds of Wildlife Trust projects across the UK supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund have benefitted thousands of people from all walks of life, helping them to experience the joy of wildlife in their daily lives.
Players of the National Lottery are helping Wildlife Trusts throughout the UK give a new lease of life to wildlife and wild places, and ignite the passions of individuals and communities to care for the wildlife on their doorstep.The Wildlife Trusts
Top of Simonside Hills at the Rothbury Estate © John Millard
(C) Maurice MacDonald. Scottish Wildlife Trust
(C) Iain Green. Dorest Wildlife Trust
Mark Hamblin/2020VISION
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has helped Wildlife Trusts transform places and lives
Since 1994, National Lottery players have helped every eligible Wildlife Trust right across the UK deliver over 640 projects using money awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This has helped Wildlife Trusts to work alongside volunteers and other members of the local community to transform areas ranging from city roadside verges to vast sections of land and coast.
Involving local communities does not just benefit wildlife – it also helps people to reconnect with wild places, improving health and wellbeing and helping people to help themselves and others by learning new subjects or life skills that can help society as a whole.
Project spotlight: The Rothbury Estate
Thanks to National Lottery players, funding will support us to lay the foundations for the future of the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland. In partnership with Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts have purchased part of the estate, with plans to purchase the remainder by October 2026. This funding will enable us to plan how the working landscape of the Rothbury Estate can play a critical role in nature’s recovery and benefit the people who live and work there. Our ambition is to transform the Rothbury Estate into the beating heart of a 40-mile nature recovery corridor across northern England.
Top of Simonside Hills at the Rothbury Estate © John Millard
Here are just a few examples of the huge variety of projects that are run by Wildlife Trusts across the UK, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Beds, Cambs and Northants
Peatland Progress: A new vision for the Fens
Peatland Progress, led by Beds, Cambs and Northants Wildlife Trust, is one of National Lottery Heritage Fund's flagship Heritage Horizon projects.
The project is tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and the anxieties of the next generation through the purchase and restoration of 120 hectares of farmland that link the north and south 'halves' of the Great Fen.
Peatland Progress is allowing the Trust to achieve the core purpose of the Great Fen; to buffer, protect and link our two precious fragments of fen habitat: Holme Fen and Woodwalton Fen National Nature Reserves. The grant is enabling further trials of wet farming crops, whilst engaging the local community, farmers and researchers.
Harvest at the Great Fen © Holly Wilkinson
Wilder Luton
Inspired by the beautiful chalk hills that reach into the fringes of Luton, this project aims to engage people of all ages and backgrounds to connect them with this landscape and to enjoy the benefits that being outdoors in nature brings.
Berks, Bucks and Oxfordshire
Reconnecting Bernwood, Otmoor and the Ray
Reconnecting Bernwood, Otmoor and the Ray (RBOR) is an ambitious landscape-scale partnership project to restore, reconnect and rediscover this diverse but threatened and undesignated rural and urban landscape.
The goal is to restore an ancient landscape to modern relevance. The legacy of the project will be a thriving, distinctive landscape surrounding growing urban centres, where ecological recovery and human connection flourish together.
Devon
Pine martens bounce back: The Two Moors pine marten project
This three-year partnership project is reintroducing pine marten populations in Dartmoor and Exmoor. The project will restore this missing link in woodlands and help people live alongside these amazing animals once more.
Two translocations have taken place and pine martens are now living wild on Dartmoor and Exmoor for the first time in 150 years, benefitting from regular monitoring and research. The return of pine martens to these areas is a positive step in restoring the fortunes of local wildlife at a time when it faces huge challenges.
Saving Devon's treescapes
This multi-year partnership project is strengthening Devon's treescapes in the face of ash dieback disease which is estimated to kill at least 90% of Devon’s ash trees in the coming years. It will affect everyone, but everyone can be part of the solution.
The project is working in various ways with Devon's communities, schools, landowners and businesses to plant and nurture 250,000 native trees outside of woodlands across Devon. It relies upon a huge number of volunteers in rural and urban areas. Some of them help at two community tree nurseries to grow and distribute for free 7,500 cell grown and bare root trees every year for communities to plant, all from locally sourced seeds including species such as the Devon Whitebeam.
This project finishes in March 2026.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight
Watercress and Winterbournes
The Rivers Test and Itchen are iconic features of the Hampshire landscape, but the chalk streams that give them life are some of the greatest hidden treasures in the county. With support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Watercress and Winterbournes has told the story of these streams vibrant past and worked with communities to build a bright future.
This five-year Landscape Partnership Scheme has brought together local communities and 15 organisations to restore and celebrate the Bourne Rivulet, Candover Brook, Cheriton Stream, Pillhill Brook, River Arle, Upper Anton, and Upper Test.
Split level view of the River Itchen © Linda Pitkin / 2020VISION
Nature positive Portsmouth
Nature positive Portsmouth is an ambitious project looking to develop plans for nature recovery and green infrastructure in Portsmouth.
The project seeks to:
- enhance natural heritage ensuring it is resilient to future threats including climate
- create new green infrastructure in the city to support climate resilience and improve peoples' health and wellbeing
- involve diverse stakeholders and communities in developing plans
- identify new funding or finance mechanisms so that projects developed within the project lifetime can be implemented
Herefordshire
Restoring Bartonsham Meadows
A three year project to restore Bartonsham Meadows as a new nature reserve for wildlife and people within Hereford city. This project will create new habitats for wildlife and connect local communities to the returning nature on their doorstep.
The project will benefit the wider environment by stabilising the soil, reducing river pollution and flooding, fixing carbon in the soil and connecting habitats for wildlife. 18 hectares of the site will be restored as floodplain meadow habitat through harvesting hay, grazing cattle and sheep and introducing wildflower and grass seed. A further 17 hectares will be left to develop and regenerate naturally.
Seed sowing at Bartonsham Meadows © Herefordshire Wildlife Trust
Northumberland
Red Squirrel Recovery Network
Northumberland Wildlife Trust and partners have been awarded a fantastic £4.86 million by The National Lottery Heritage Fund for our Red Squirrel Recovery Network (RSRN) project. This 5-year initiative will help protect and conserve our beloved red squirrels across Northern England and Southern Scotland. It comes at a critical time, bringing together conservation partners and over 50 volunteer groups to safeguard populations that are increasingly threatened.
Peter Cairns/2020VISION
Biodiversity Boost
Northumberland Wildlife Trust were delighted to receive £750,000 from DEFRA and the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Species Survival Fund, to increase biodiversity in the Druridge area. The Species Survival Fund is a short-term programme designed to support the creation and restoration of wildlife-rich habitats in England.
Somerset
Wilder Communities 30x30 Project
This three-year project will inspire actions for wildlife along three vital nature recovery corridors in Somerset.
From Glastonbury to Frome, Somerton to Yeovil, and the Charltons to Castle Cary 30x30 will work with individuals and communities - helping those less connected with nature - to create more space for wildlife, delivering training, advice and loads of fun events and activities to shape a Wilder Somerset by 2030.
Suffolk
Worlingham Marshes
Thanks to a donation from the Swire Charitable Trust, Suffolk Wildlife Trust has completed the match funding target to support the partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund which enabled the original land purchase of Worlingham Marshes. This will enable the restoration of the 381 acres that make up reserve in the Lower Waveney Valley for nature’s recovery.
This wild landscape is helping them to restore nature at scale with a corridor of wildlife-rich land stretching from Beccles in the west to Oulton Marshes in the east, including Carlton Marshes.
Work has already seen the restoration of dykes, grasslands and scrub - all with the goal of creating a richer, healthier habitat for wildlife and will continue at pace in 2026.
Wales
Developing Green Finance in Wales
Wildlife Trusts Wales is delighted to be receiving support from the Welsh Government through The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This vital support is enabling the five Welsh Wildlife Trusts to scale their work collectively, build new partnerships and unlock new resourcing potential. Private finance for nature, also known as green finance, has huge potential for nature recovery at scale and safeguarding ecosystem services that we all rely on such as clean rivers, flood mitigation and soil quality. This work will make an important contribution to a more sustainable future for nature recovery and ecosystem resilience in Wales, benefitting biodiversity, climate, people, and prosperity.
Wiltshire
Restoring Nature: Preparing for the future
This project will lay foundations to influence land managers across the county, strengthen the Trust’s own baseline data for its reserves to inform a best practice approach to adaptive management and integrate natural processes for climate resilience. It will create a learning hub for nature-friendly farming and green finance to engage farmer clusters across and beyond Wiltshire and support skills development in the conservation and farming sectors.
UK-wide
Coronation Gardens for Food and Nature
With funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund we delivered a project to encourage more people across the UK to grow food in a wildlife-friendly way. We combined the experience of The Wildlife Trusts, Incredible Edible, Garden Organic and the Women's Institutes, to create a lasting legacy of individuals and communities growing fruit and vegetables sustainably, while also helping nature along the way. We’ve created a website packed full of information to get people started and support them along the way
Nextdoor Nature
In celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, The National Lottery Heritage Foundation partnered with The Wildlife Trusts to deliver Nextdoor Nature, a community engagement project which empowered people across the UK to bring nature onto their doorsteps. The project engaged over 1,600 rural and urban communities (smashing the target of 200!) in micro-nature projects like turning grass verges and roundabouts into wildlife havens.
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