The Shropshire Wildlife Trust is a

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

covering the geographic county of

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, England.

Nature reserves

The trust cares for, or is associated with, 42

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s (plus its headquarters in Shrewsbury – see next section) in the county: ErcallHill

Many of these sites are owned by the Trust – the most recent acquisition by the Trust is Catherton Common, in the

Clee Hills The Clee Hills are a range of hills in Shropshire, England near Ludlow, consisting of Brown Clee Hill , the highest peak in Shropshire, and Titterstone Clee Hill . They are both in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Geogra ...

, which at 527 acres is the largest Wildlife Trust nature reserve in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

region. The Trust is currently fund-raising to purchase the

leasehold A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...

Pontesford Pontesford is a small village in Shropshire, England. It is located on the A488 outside the large village of Pontesbury, southwest of Shrewsbury. The population as taken at the 2011 census can be found under Pontesbury. It approximates to the ...

Hill – it already owns the

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

, along with neighbouring Earl's Hill. In 2012 the Trust was seeking to purchase the gardens of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

's family home at The Mount in Shrewsbury, so that they may be opened to the public.BBC News
Darwin's Shropshire garden offered for sale to trust (17 February 2012)

Headquarters

The Trust has its main offices and

visitor centre A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visit ...

at 193 Abbey Foregate near the centre of Shrewsbury – they occupy the former "Shrewsbury Quest" museum, on the corner of Abbey Foregate and Old Potts Way, opposite The Abbey church. The site encompasses a restored medieval building known as the Old Infirmary and a 1730s building called Queen Anne House, as well as gardens, including a

herb garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

established when the site was the Shrewsbury Quest, and a fruit tree garden. The centre and its gardens is open to the public (usually Monday – Saturday) and has a shop as well as

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

rooms available for hire. Many Trust-run events take place here, including children's events during the summer holidays. Every year the centre receives approximately 25,000 visitors.

Local branches

The Trust currently has 10 local branches active in the county: *

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079. History B ...

* Clun and

Bishop's Castle Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893. Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales-England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west of Sh ...

* Ellesmere *

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and electoral ward in the north of Shropshire, England, close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is on the River Tern, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as "D ...

* Newport *

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

**''Oswestry Hills Wildlife Watch'' *Shrewsbury Wildlife Survey Group * Strettons, The * Whitchurch Additionally, in the Telford area the Trust has helped establish the "Telford and Wrekin Forest" initiative, and has "

Wrekin The Wrekin is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some five miles (8 km) west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of 4 ...

Forest Volunteers".

Specialist groups

The county has a wide range of specialist groups, which are associated with the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, including: *

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

Bryologists *

Butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

Conservation West Midlands *Shropshire

Amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

and Reptile Group *Shropshire

Badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...

Group *Shropshire

Barn Owl The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalaya ...

Group *Shropshire

Bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

Group *Shropshire

Botanical Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Society *Shropshire Fungus Group *Shropshire

Invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

Group *Shropshire

Mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

Group *Shropshire

Moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

Group *Shropshire

Ornithological Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

Society *Shropshire

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

Study Group

Membership

As of 2011 the Shropshire Wildlife Trust's membership is around 11,000 individuals – the figure was just under 6,000 in the year 2000.Annual Review 2010 This equates to roughly 2.2%, or 1 in 50 Shropshire residents. Annual income from subscriptions has risen from £140,000 in 2000 to £250,000 in 2010. In addition to the membership of individuals, there are also corporate memberships, mainly of organisations (almost all private businesses) based in Shropshire, including Müller Dairy (UK),

E.ON UK E.ON UK is a British energy company and the largest supplier of energy and renewable electricity in the UK, following its acquisition of Npower. It is a subsidiary of E.ON of Germany and one of the Big Six energy suppliers. It was founded in ...

and

Harper Adams University Harper Adams University, founded in 1901 as Harper Adams College, is a public university located close to the village of Edgmond, near Newport, in Shropshire, England. Established in 1901, the college is a specialist provider of higher educat ...

References

External links

Shropshire Wildlife Trust website

Telford and Wrekin Forest initiative
{{Shropshire W W W Wildlife Trusts of England Telford and Wrekin 1964 establishments in England

Nature reserves

Headquarters

Local branches

Specialist groups

Membership

See also

References

External links