2023 Free

Impact Report 2023

Essex Wildlife Trust is the county's leading conservation charity, managing 93 nature reserves and running Nature Discovery Centres across Essex. In 2023, the Trust welcomed over 1 million visitors to its centres, worked with 40,000 children and families through education programmes, generated 50,000 citizen science wildlife observations, and retained a membership base of 40,000 supporters — all while advancing ambitious targets to have 30% of Essex land and sea actively managed for nature by 2030.

Report snapshot
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About

1,900 volunteers supported conservation work across 93 nature reserves

Key Metrics

Key Metric 1 1 million+ visitors welcomed to Nature Discovery Centres in 2023
Key Metric 2 40,000 children and families engaged through Wilder Learning education programmes
Key Metric 3 50,000+ citizen science wildlife observations recorded in 2023

Key Outcomes

  • 93% of Nature Discovery Centre visitors rated their experience 5/5
  • 9230000
  • 10560000

Geography

East of England

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
5,999 active volunteers contributed 776,242 hours in 2025/26
Key Metric 2
137 winter maintenance projects across 45 canals; 109 lock gates replaced
Key Metric 3
101,640 children participated in Explorers/STEM outdoor learning, including 67,896 water-safety participants
Over 80% of the network kept fully open despite drought.
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
The Eco-Schools programme reached over 1.4 million pupils, with 2,162 schools awarded the Eco-Schools Green Flag in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
326,000 volunteers pledged to the Great British Spring Clean, picking up 425,626 bags of rubbish, supported by 288 local authorities and parish councils
Key Metric 3
2,227 Green Flag Awards given to parks and green spaces in the UK; 151 beaches given a Blue Flag and/or Seaside Award
98.3% of educators felt the Eco-Schools programme significantly supports young people's development of 'green skills'
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
First known breeding success of spoonbills in the Norfolk Broads in around 400 years, recorded at Hickling Broads and Marshes
Key Metric 2
Over 60 nature reserves managed across Norfolk, with land owned or managed for wildlife exceeding 5,000 hectares
Key Metric 3
1,500 volunteers helped protect wildlife across the county during the year
New urban nature reserve co-designed with the local community, expanding accessible green space in Norfolk
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
61,819 native oysters deployed across UK restoration projects in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
15,064 people participated in the Beachwatch beach clean programme, submitting 1,256 litter surveys — the highest in the programme's 31-year history
Key Metric 3
17,613 young people engaged through in-person or online youth programme sessions
£11.5 billion Ofwat investment package secured for storm overflow cuts in England and Wales following sustained MCS advocacy