Celebrating 50 Years of VWT — a personal reflection
As Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT) celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, former Head of Communications — Hilary Macmillan — looks back on VWT’s five decades of mammal conservation in Britain, Ireland and beyond in this personal reflection.
The other week, I found myself in the Cabin Bar on Paddington Station – a place that always brings back some of my earliest memories of Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT).
VWT’s founder, the late Hon Vincent Weir, was one of the most important figures in both Britain and Ireland’s wildlife conservation story. A person almost no-one has heard of but that was the way he wanted it — a reclusive man who became a pioneer in the world of nature conservation, and mammal conservation in particular — and someone who gave most of his wealth to conservation projects, largely in Britain and Ireland. In most cases this was done quietly and without fanfare — but we should never forget that VWT owes its existence to the generosity and vision of this extraordinary man and his determination to make a difference at a time when a worrying number of our mammal species were in serious decline.
And he certainly did make a difference. Today, a decade after his death, VWT continues the path Vincent first trod, its strategy firmly tied to the conservation of mammals in Britain, Ireland and in mainland Europe. There are also national conservation organisations out there that came into existence with the help of Vincent’s money; nature reserves that were funded; individuals who received grants for their PhDs; and so much more – and this was over and above the millions he used to fund the work of VWT itself.
Vincent also loved art and when VWT opened its Head Office in Herefordshire, the first instruction I received was to go and buy artwork for the office walls. We often talked about art and art exhibitions — it was, after all, a piece of artwork by the late Sir Peter Scott that triggered Vincent’s interest in natural history and led to Vincent becoming closely involved with Scott and his Wildfowl and Wetland Trust.
Vincent moved to London in the early 1980s, after taking over the family firm, He lived in a gothic-style building in Whitehall and, somewhat incongruously, this was where we would have our staff meetings. These were long affairs during which Vincent would make his priorities clear and then make all the necessary decisions based on these priorities! He had an interesting management style!
After staff meetings, most of us ended up in the Cabin Bar as we waited for our respective trains. It was a memorable if slightly mad time and I take my hat off to all the staff who worked tirelessly under Vincent’s sometimes challenging leadership. It was a unique privilege.
You can read more about the life and work of Vincent Weir, VWT’s remarkable founder, in From Mallards to Martens, the Trust’s 40th anniversary book dedicated to him after his death in 2014 (the book explains why mallards are key to VWT’s existence).
In the beginning was the otter
While still working for the family firm, Vincent pursued his passion for wildlife, and the otter in particular — a species at that time undergoing a dramatic and unexplained decline across Britain and beyond. From the late 1960s, Vincent spent thousands of hours in the field studying the otter population on the grazing marshes of Norfolk and Suffolk. He was far happier there than in the boardroom. He also became actively involved in the proposed and subsequently successful legislation to seek legal protection for the otter.
In 1975, Vincent placed his conservation work on a more formal footing – establishing ‘The Vincent Wildlife Trust’ and funded from his personal resources.
The VWT’s national otter surveys, carried out from the late 1970s through to the 1990s, provided the baseline data that were missing. At the time, these surveys were the most extensive single species surveys carried out anywhere in the world and the methodology, devised with the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC), now Natural England, was later adopted as the standard International Union for the Conservation of Nature method – an endorsement of the Trust’s commitment to scientific rigour and the validity of its survey techniques. This commitment still holds today, witnessed in VWT’s more recent groundbreaking work on the translocation of pine martens from Scotland to Wales.
“My first encounter with the Trust was in 1981, in the earliest years of my weekly column in the Irish Times…The day VWT’s Peter and Linda Chapman came to the door helped cement my enthusiasm for the natural world. They had spent 15 months camping beside the rivers and estuaries of Ireland, mapping out otter spraints and tracks at some 2,400 sites…” The late Michael Viney, artist, author and journalist. Source: From Mallards to Martens.
Today, otters are found in almost every river in Britain – and Vincent played a key role in their successful return. I just hope the current quality of some of our rivers is addressed so that this remains a success story.
The near demise of the water vole
In the 1970s, anecdotal evidence and a few investigations by NCC indicated that a widespread and long–term decline of the water vole may have occurred, but only an in–depth field survey of the whole of Britain could authenticate such a decline and establish the extent. Could this be a job for VWT?
“I had worked on otters with Vincent Weir for many years. I phoned him and explained what I thought was happening to the water vole. He said to give him five minutes and he’d come back to me. Five minutes later he phoned me back and said yes — the VWT would take on the survey. How different from the Civil Service — only Vincent could get things going on the same day!” Dr Don Jefferies, former NCC scientist. Source: ‘From Mallards to Martens’.
Once again, true endorsement of the work of VWT in the field of national species surveys — a special acknowledgement must go to the late Rob Strachan, a brilliant and inspirational naturalist, for his integral role in this work. What is certain is that VWT’s water vole surveys identified a population crash that had been going on seemingly under the radar. The survey came just in time. No wonder Michael McCarthy, former Environment Editor for the Independent newspaper, once described the Trust as the ‘estimable Vincent Wildlife Trust’.
The speed of Vincent’s response well illustrates the ability of VWT to be fleet of foot: a crucial strength both then and now.
More species in trouble…
British bat populations were in dire straits in the mid–20th century and urgent action was needed. With a growing personal concern, Vincent became actively involved and VWT was a key player in kick–starting the bat conservation movement in Britain and Ireland, ultimately leading to the formation of the Bat Conservation Trust. Vincent focused VWT’s work on three critically threatened bat species: Bechstein’s bat and the greater and lesser horseshoe bats. In Ireland, the Trust’s work concentrated on the lesser horseshoe bat, the only horseshoe bat found there.
This was the start of the Trust’s often cutting–edge work on these three species and VWT continues to lead the way with novel research and field techniques. VWT’s Bechstein’s ringing project, established in the 1990s, became the longest running ringing project for this species. VWT also carried out the first radio-tracking study for Bechstein’s bats and the understanding gained about foraging ecology and habitat preferences led to the first habitat conservation recommendations for the species.
Vincent’s particular interest was in the acquisition of buildings and other structures used by horseshoe bats as maternity roost sites – whatever they cost. He wanted to protect as many of these sites as possible and employed a team of staff to manage the roosts and enhance the buildings to maximise their potential as roost sites. The Trust’s portfolio of reserves in both Britain and Ireland remain key to the recovery of both horseshoe bat species.
VWT’s ongoing work on the roosting ecology of horseshoe bats, roost enhancement and research into foraging and habitat requirements has without doubt contributed significantly to the continued recovery of these two bat species and continues to inform other specialists working in the field.
Polecats and pine martens
Back in the 1980s, Vincent was taking an interest in the whereabouts of the pine marten in Britain, followed in the 1990s with research into the polecat — one of the least studied British mammals at the time. This led to the first national polecat survey. Vincent’s early support for long–term studies of the polecat and pine marten raised the profile of carnivore conservation at a crucial time. Since then, VWT has been the main driver of conservation action for pine marten and polecat in Britain and has developed unparalleled expertise in their distribution and status. This expertise is highlighted in the ground–breaking and hugely successful project to translocate pine martens from Scotland, where the species is recovering, to Wales, where the marten was functionally extinct. Personally, I will never forget feeding blueberries to two pine martens in the back of a van at Tebay Service station on the M6 — and hoping no one would notice. One of so many unforgettable experiences during my 20 years with VWT.
Has VWT made a difference?
Ten years ago, in ‘From Mallards to Martens’, I described VWT as one of Britain’s leading mammal conservation charities. It was and still is — and I hope always will be. This brief history can only give a very few examples of some of its work, but I hope it remains a pioneer in the field of conservation-led research. I hope it continues to punch above its weight, to be ahead of the game, to remain fleet of foot, and to really make a difference in a world where wildlife conservation faces so many challenges.
Until he let go of the reins in 2007, Vincent was the driving force behind VWT’s achievements and there is no doubt that his determination and financial generosity had significant impact on the recovery of Britain’s threatened mammals. He also left an important legacy in his long-term, financial support of three other organisations in particular: Plantlife, Butterfly Conservation and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation.
Although we are in a very different world to that of 1975, and there has been a need to adapt to new challenges and new approaches, VWT continues on the path to secure the long-term survival of mammal populations. It remains a charity that is resilient, respected and relevant. I think Vincent would approve — and if you’re ever in the Cabin Bar on Paddington Station, please do raise a glass to this remarkable man.
Hilary Macmillan, former Head of Communications at VWT
