2021 Advent Calendar
2021 has been another challenging year for everyone, yet there is still a lot celebrate. We want to share our wild highlights and hear about yours!
Check back every day until 25 December to see what is hidden behind each door: hear about our successes, see some amazing wildlife, get some activities to do over the holidays, enter our competitions, and more...
Janice Elliott - 2nd prize photo comp 2020
23
Change is constant in nature – and if you visit your local nature reserve regularly you’ll see those changes.
Volunteer warden Rupert Paul reflects on the loss of an oak tree on his local reserve Southwick Wood in Northants, which has been a part of the local landscape for more than a century.
18
Only a few days to go now and for most of you the holidays start today.
We’ve put together a pack of nature-based activities for you to do over the holidays!
© Nicholas Watts
10
As winter sets in food becomes scarce in the countryside and birds are more likely to venture into gardens to get their fill from feeders. This year we celebrated with bird seed suppliers Vine House Farm when our partnership hit an amazing £2million for wildlife conservation. They give a percentage of every sale to the Wildlife Trusts. We asked them to help us round off the year with some top tips on how to attract a range of birds to your feeder this winter.
Credit: Greg Belcher
15
As part of our annual monitoring, we get to experience the best that our reserves have to offer.
This year we've seen some encouraging numbers for orchids. Here are some of the successes!
Sophie Stocking
4
It’s day 4 of advent! And today, you can check out our five top tips for a sustainable Christmas.
22
We love a fascinating nature fact – we've discovered lots this year.
Here’s a few of our favourites.
Arial view of the banks being built at our Totternhoe Nature Reserve, each bank faces a different direction
13
It has been a busy year for our teams.
Visit our new Projects page to see what we've been up to!
Bogbean Menyanthes trifoliata, growing in pool on bog peatland at dawn, Flow Country, Scotland, June - Mark Hamblin/2020VISION
7
Today we're focusing on how we’re pioneering nature-based solutions at the Great Fen by restoring lowland peat and capturing carbon, which vital in helping combat effects of climate change.
Find out more about climate change and what we're doing to tackle it.
Credit: Rebecca Neal
6
We were grateful to be able to restart face-to-face events on our reserves, at our activity centres and out in the community this year.
It has meant to lot to our team!
21
Get outdoors and have some fun over the holidays with our adventure nature trail!
Credit: Luke Witcher
11
Thank you to everyone for sharing their wildlife highlights.
Here are some of our favourites from the year.
COP26 Cambridge March - October 2021. Image by Nik Shelton
16
Raising our voices for a wilder future has never been more vital.
We've had a busy year campaigning for wildlife!
credit: gpointstudio
25
Merry Christmas to all our supporters! We are so grateful for your volunteer time, your donations, your likes and shares, your kind comments and for showing that you care about the wildlife in our beautiful three counties.
Here’s some of our favourite wintery wildlife scenes to inspire you to get out and see some nature this Christmas.
By Sarah Cowling
5
Take a virtual tour of Pegsdon Hills nature reserve from the comfort of your sofa!
2
Today we're celebrating all those who fundraised for us this year. Thank you!
We want to give a special shout-out to our
Junior Wildlife Ambassador Henry who raised a whopping £775 on the Big Wild Walk!
Thanks Henry!
8
Here is a small selection of our 2021 highlights in numbers. What a year!
And we couldn’t do any of it without our supporters, volunteers and staff. Thank you.
For more detailed information about what we’ve been up to, check out our Annual Report for 2020-21.
Image by Bob Izzard
19
It’s cold and dark but in many ways winter
is a really exciting time to experience nature and see wildlife.
Short-eared owl hunting over Burwell Fen by Hedley Wright
1st prize - Photography Competition 2021
17
Today we're celebrating all the photographers who shared their
amazing local wildlife and nature photos and videos with us this year!
Thank you!
Amazing wildlife and nature photos
Don't forget to enter your photos in our annual photography competition which is sponsored this year by Canon UK in association with Campkins Cameras and supported by Opticron.
Credit: Robert Enderby
24
The numbers are in: here are this year's most popular reserves!
Glow worms at Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits - c.Chris Loades
14
Today we're revisiting this year's most popular blog - and hopefully some of its summer warmth will rub off.
Join Iain Webb on his glow-worm hunting adventure!
20
Thanks a million to all our Valiant Volunteers, Superb Supporters and Magnificent Members – we couldn’t do any of our work without you!
9
Do you have an all-time favourite nature spot? Somewhere you go to relax, the location of the best muddy puddles or wildflower meadows, a good place to see wildlife?
We'd love to hear about those special nature places in Beds, Cambs and Northants!
3
Who would love to be a dormouse?
They are one of the few UK species that truly hibernate through winter - in fact their name comes from the French dormir, ‘to sleep’.
Come with us as we carry out our dormouse monitoring
If you want to learn more about dormice and hibernation then why not book for our online talk with Dr Gwen Hitchcock - who features in today’s advent calendar video.
Credit: Luke Massey/2020VISION
12
We want to hear from you! What we are doing well but also and how we can improve.
By taking our survey you can also enter to win a copy of the fabulous Winter: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons by Melissa Harrison and the Wildlife Trusts. The survey closes on Sunday 19th December 2021 at 12 Midnight.