National Trust’s annual audit reveals a dire year for animals from toads and bats to birds and butterflies
This year’s tumultuous weather – including fierce storms, searing heat, deep cold snaps – has devastated some of the UK’s most precious flora and fauna, a leading conservation charity has said.
The extreme conditions have made survival very difficult for animals from toads and bats to birds and butterflies, and from great trees to meadowland flowers.
Continue reading...Restore Trust blamed computerised voting for defeat of all its candidates at annual general meeting in Bath
A right-leaning campaign aiming to wrest control of the National Trust from an alleged “political” takeover has criticised a computerised voting system after all of its candidates for council seats were defeated at the trust’s annual general meeting.
Restore Trust failed to secure a single win and immediately attacked the soundness of the charity’s democratic system after results were announced at the National Trust’s Grade I-listed Bath Assembly Rooms.
Continue reading...Oil sketch of Elsie Palmer to go on display at Ightham Mote in Kent after being acquired by trust
An oil sketch by John Singer Sargent of one of his most famous models will be returned to the English country house where it was painted after being acquired by the National Trust.
Sargent’s sketch of Elsie Palmer, which was done in preparation for his masterpiece A Lady in White, will go on display at Ightham Mote in Kent, where the Palmer family lived and hosted artistic and literary gatherings for the likes of the actor Ellen Terry and the novelist Henry James in the late 1890s.
Continue reading...October’s summery temperatures are ‘confusing’ plants and throwing off fragile ecosystems
Britain’s rare chalk grasslands and dormice are under threat from the mild weather this autumn, and some plants are “confused” and have flowered multiple times, experts have said.
This October, the UK has experienced temperatures more normal for spring or summer, with highs of 19.5C recorded this week, and more warm weather forecast for coming days.
Continue reading...Charity says extreme conditions a ‘watershed moment’ and it is planning for long-term hot weather
The National Trust has reported significant effects across its estate from the recent extreme heat including bats in distress, heather struggling to flower and historic water features drying up.
At Wallington in Northumberland, bats were found disoriented and dehydrated in the daylight during the hottest days this summer, while in Cambridgeshire, a waterwheel that powers a flour mill has had to stop turning due to low river levels.
Continue reading...National Trust garden at Castlefield Viaduct is inspired by New York public park and features 3,000 plant species
A “park in the sky” at a former viaduct in Manchester is to open at the end of the month, the National Trust has announced.
Situated along the Grade II-listed Castlefield Viaduct, the 330-metre temporary park is inspired by New York’s High Line public park, and features 3,000 plant species in gardens created by architects and community groups.
Continue reading...Colonies mix annually at Winspit caves near Swanage, a hibernation site for rare greater horseshoe bats
Three sea caves hewn into the rocky coastline of Dorset that are the bat equivalent of a speed-dating site, attracting crowds of the flying mammals from as far as 40 miles away, have been acquired by the National Trust.
The bats gather at Winspit caves near Swanage in the late summer and early autumn, dart around the cliffs and, if all goes well, find a mate from a different colony.
Continue reading...After the worries over ‘wokeness’, hunting was the day’s big issue
Those who care deeply about the stately homes of Britain tuned in on Saturday from a dozen countries around the world to watch a peculiar spectator sport: the National Trust annual general meeting.
The stage was set for a tournament that promised one victor: either the reforming board of the National Trust, determined to move with the times, or a rebellious contingent calling for a return to first principles of preservation and established scholarship.
Continue reading...Members raised concerns about ‘extreme’ positions taken by individuals involved in Restore Trust
The National Trust has warned of the “damage” it faces from an “ideological campaign” waged against it by self-styled “anti-woke” insurgents whom the charity has accused of seeking to stoke divisions.
It was prompted to speak out as members raised concerns about a range of “extreme” positions taken by individuals involved in a group called Restore Trust, which is backing a slate of candidates in elections for the NT’s governing council.
Continue reading...Conservation charity’s supporters give more than £865,000 despite pandemic closing majority of sites
The National Trust has reported a 383% increase in online donations during the pandemic year when most of the charity’s venues were “put into hibernation”.
Figures from the charity showed that online donationswere more than £865,000, an increase of 383% from 2019/20.
Continue reading...Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk gives tiles a special coating to stop bats slipping off as part of £6m roofing project
Bats have probably been in the attics of Oxburgh Hall for centuries. But how can they return for a good day’s sleep when the National Trust puts new and unfamiliar tiles on the roof?
The trust on Thursday revealed the lengths to which it has gone to keep the bat residents of a historic manor house in Norfolk happy during a £6m reroofing project – including specially adapted tiles which they can happily scoot up.
Continue reading...Archaeologists at British Museum and National Trust report surge in interest in 1939 Anglo-Saxon find
It was when she spotted #SuttonHoo trending on Twitter that Sue Brunning knew this was not going to be just like any other week.
As the curator of the early medieval collection at the British Museum, and the guardian of the spectacular Sutton Hoo treasures, Brunning is well used to fielding interest in what are justly some of the museum’s best loved exhibits.
Continue reading...Professor warns of ‘political agenda’ to discredit researchers exploring slavery links
The academic at the centre of an escalating row over the National Trust’s efforts to explore links between its properties and colonialism has warned of a “political agenda” to “misrepresent, mischaracterise, malign and intimidate” those involved in the project.
Professor Corinne Fowler has drawn comparisons between the vilification of academics, including herself, and attacks by climate-crisis deniers on scientists warning about global heating. She suggested they were a product of social tension.
Continue reading...More than 500 compulsory redundancies as charity aims for annual savings of £100m
Almost 1,300 jobs are to be lost at the National Trust as a result of the coronavirus crisis, but the charity said it had more than halved the number of compulsory redundancies it expected to make.
A union has described the job losses as “devastating” for people affected but also called the plan “a reasonable way to move forward”.
Continue reading...Conservation charity launches appeal to raise money for projects halted due to pandemic
A major appeal aimed at encouraging people to maintain links made with the natural world during lockdown and to raise money for environmental projects halted because of the Covid-19 crisis is being launched by the National Trust.
The conservation charity is also keen to encourage more care and respect for nature following a surge in littering, fly-camping and damage to nature and wildlife this summer.
Continue reading...Volunteers accuse charity of excluding deprived and minority ethnic schoolchildren
Volunteers are accusing the National Trust of excluding deprived and minority ethnic schoolchildren from enjoying nature and visiting its properties with the planned sacking of the charity’s education officers.
The number of protests and petitions are growing over the trust’s controversial “reset” involving the proposed loss of 1,200 jobs, including its learning staff, as the charity plans to stop providing any curriculum-based content or learning activities for schools.
Continue reading...Nine acres in Exmoor includes buildings, rivers and moorland linked to 19th-century tale
It is a place of wooded valleys, tumbling rivers and rugged moorland that was immortalised in the 19th-century novel Lorna Doone, a twisty tale of romance, murder and outlaws by RD Blackmore.
The National Trust announced on Tuesday it had bought nine acres of land in Doone country, including farmhouses and cottages, and is hoping to encourage more visitors to explore this tucked-away area of Exmoor.
Continue reading...Rotunda at National Trust property exploits gloom from scaffolding to stage exhibition
A 200-year-old Italianate palace, hidden away in the Suffolk countryside and currently encased in more than 270 miles of scaffolding, is to hold an exhibition that is only taking place because it is undergoing £5m of conservation works.
Ickworth, a Georgian estate and one of the most photographed of all National Trust properties, will on Satuday open its magnificent but leaky Rotunda to show off world class works of art and objects which few people know are even there.
Continue reading...In one corner were two women, a teacher and a graphic designer, from Cambridgeshire. In the other was the guardian of the country’s heritage and green spaces. Both were engaged in a high-intensity battle – over chocolate.
The usually staid proceedings of the National Trust annual general meeting in Swindon yesterday erupted into a heated row about the conservation charity’s longstanding deal with one of the largest confectionery giants in the world.
Continue reading...National Trust research finds birdsong and rustling leaves increase relaxation by 30%
Gentle woodland sounds such as birdsong and the breeze rustling leaves in the trees are more relaxing than meditation recordings, a new study claims.
Researchers exposed participants to three soundtracks – a woodland, a woman guiding a meditation session and deep silence.
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