History How it all began...
Inspired by art
Vincent was a businessman, a highly accomplished naturalist and a philanthropist — and in combining these three elements, he became one of Britain’s most remarkable conservationists. He was a shy man — few people will know that he established some of our most successful national wildlife charities; privately funded major conservation projects across Britain and Ireland over a period of more than forty years; and supported a generation of young scientists in their academic studies.
It was whilst a schoolboy in Malvern that a painting by Sir Peter Scott ignited a spark — the painting was of a flock of mallards flying over a marsh, and Vincent, knowing little about ornithology at the time, was hooked. It was the start of a voyage that established Vincent as one of the great pioneers in British conservation.
The first mammal to become of real concern to Vincent as it came perilously close to extinction was the otter — for more than ten years from 1969, Vincent meticulously studied the slow and (at that time) mysterious decline of the otters in Norfolk and Suffolk.
In 1975, Vincent Weir founded Vincent Wildlife Trust with a plan to research the decline of the otter through the Trust’s Otter Haven Project. Injured and orphaned otters were rehabilitated and detailed research was carried out, including extensive radio-tracking studies and pollutant analysis. Vincent was also instrumental in the mass distribution of free net guards, designed to prevent otters from accidental drowning in eel nets. He also oversaw a series of national otter surveys from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s — a colossal (and expensive) undertaking. In 1988, he published his book The Otter detailing the otter’s ecology and the research he had carried out across East Anglia.
At the time of his death in 2014, nearly 50 years after he became so concerned with the river mammal, the otter is found again in every main river catchment in England and populations are almost fully recovered. With an understanding of what was causing extinction (largely pollutants affecting their food supply, exacerbated by habitat loss and other human impacts — and then taking action, Vincent's vision and determination inspired many conservation organisations, government organisations and individuals to join in and help to make a difference.
In the early 1980s, Vincent became concerned about the plight of Britain’s bats and started a number of VWT research projects to identify the needs of rare bat species — including the first ever radio-tracking study of lesser horseshoe bats. It became clear that the widespread loss of roosting and breeding sites across the south and west of Britain was driving the dramatic decline in the horseshoe bats. So from the 1980s through to the 2000s, again at great personal expense, Vincent purchased a number of important breeding and hibernation sites for rare bats, including a farm building in Devon that is now home to the largest known maternity colony of greater horseshoe bats in western Europe. VWT now manages 37 bat roosts in Britain and Ireland, and will continue to do so in perpetuity, thanks to the generosity of Vincent’s endowments which were, with characteristic vision and attention to detail, secured long before his death.
Vincent’s passion and generosity were not confined to mammals or to VWT, and there are a number of other important wildlife charities that also owe much to Vincent. Vincent was a patron of The Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, a charity he founded as the Herpetological Conservation Trust in 1989. He also became a major funder of Plantlife following its inception in 1989, and remained one of the charity’s vice-presidents. He was also a major supporter and a vice-president of Butterfly Conservation. Vincent was a strong supporter of The Bat Conservation Trust, a charity dear to his heart, and many students have since gained support through the Vincent Weir Scientific Award, established by the Trust as a tribute to Vincent’s bat conservation work.